FRIENDS of a Dorset charity have spent the past eight months gearing up for the biggest fundraising event in their group’s history.

The Dorset Extravaganza has been solely organised by volunteers and aims to attract 1,000 people to the historic setting of Sherborne School on Friday, May 29.

A series of much-anticipated talks will feature former US astronaut Joe Allen, horticultural author and expert Anna Pavord, novelists Michael Dobbs and Tim Heald and actor Tim Bentinck who plays David Archer in the Radio 4 series The Archers.

The country’s best-known astronomer Sir Patrick Moore will also be sponsoring and judging a ‘When will we go to Mars’ essay- writing competition for youngsters aged between nine and 19-years-old.

A fanfare from The Light Cavalry Band from Bovington will officially open the event before the band parades through the town in an attempt to lead people back like the ‘pied piper’.

Other attractions will include stilt walkers, jugglers, puppeteers as well as more than 30 stalls with clothes, gardening produce, a hog roast, children’s activities and a flower- arranging demonstration.

Organisers of the one-day event have pooled their experience and connections to boost the coffers of the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.

The charity cares for patients with cancer and other life-limiting conditions who require specialist help Sally Inchbald, chairman of the Friends of Weldmar Hospicecare Trust group, said: “It’s a very large event, certainly the biggest event the friends have ever run.

“Sir Patrick is a friend of mine.

“We travelled to a NASA event in the year 2000 and met Bonnie and Joe Allen.

“Because of that friendship they stayed with me exactly a year ago this month and as they left I asked Joe to come and do a talk for Weldmar, my new charity.

“This event is based on him coming to give a talk and then trying to fill the Sherborne School’s excellent facilities.”

Sally said she was ‘very pleased’ with how it was coming together but would like to see more people buying tickets for the lectures.

Tickets are available on the door but Mrs Inchbald said that it would be ‘very reassuring for us if people bought them now’.

The tourist information centre in Sherborne has supported the event with a full window display and people can buy tickets through the Weldmar charity.

Sally said: “We would like between 800 and 1,000 people to attend the five different lectures.

“Bearing in mind the big school room at Sherborne can hold 500 people and the other Powell lecture theatre can hold 230 – wouldn’t it be lovely if we could fill all of it?

“Joe’s lecture is unique – how many people do you know who have been in space and taken pictures with their own camera?”

Donate to show you care

THE Show Them You Care campaign has raised £2,060 since the appeal was launched on February 28 but there is a long way to go to hit the £60,000 target needed to pay for a community nurse for a year.

All the money will be used to fund a nurse for a year and pay for all of their support and expenses. Crucially, it would mean even more patients and their families receiving all the support they need, when they need it most.

Donate by visiting webpage www.justgiving.com/weldmarnurse Send cheques payable to ‘The Weldmar Hospicecare Trust’ to the Dorset Echo offices at Fleet House, Hampshire Road, Weymouth, DT4 9XD.