ALMOST 20 local charities have already registered to attend the Tavistock Community Fayre being organised by the Lions Club at Tavistock College on the afternoon of Saturday, April 27.

The club hopes the event will be an opportunity to join with other local groups to raise money for their own worthy cause — the Lions are delighted with the response to this new event in the Tavistock calendar.

There will also be food outlets and a licensed bar run by Tavistock Round Table as well as live music from a ceilidh/folk band called Cataclews, and bouncy castles and inflatables for the children.

Gates will open at 2pm and entrance will be free, but there will be a small charge for car parking at a site further down Crowndale Road.

Also attending will be around 15 hot-air balloons, and their pilots and crews will be talking to the spectators about ballooning and the equipment during the afternoon and will hopefully organise some inflation competitions.

As a grand finale to the fayre and weather permitting, there will be a massed ascent of the balloons, starting around 6pm.

A spokesman for Tavistock Lions Said: 'The members of the Lions Club of Tavistock were very keen to bring back ballooning to Tavistock as it has been such a popular and spectacular event.

'But history has shown that its success is very weather-dependent and a great deal of hard work can go into staging a fiesta with little return if the unpredictable West Country weather is against you.

'Organising it this way, the main event will be the community fayre and the balloons will be the "icing on the cake".'

As the fayre is being staged on the playing fields of Tavistock College, the Lions Club advise that no dogs, apart from registered guide dogs, will be allowed into the event for health and safety reasons.

There is still space available for any other charity, club or school wishing to take part and they can do so by contacting Lion Janet Nowell on [email protected]">[email protected] or by calling 0845 8334807.