DUCKS — of the small yellow plastic variety — are set to make a reappearance bobbing down the West Okehment River in Okehampton’s Simmons Park on Sunday, August 27 when the local rotary club stage their traditional summer fair.

Okehampton Rotary Club members have already raised over £700 for their charity coffers selling their ducks outside Waitrose, but with four races planned for the day, there are still plenty available. The club will be selling them for £1 a duck at the Red Lion Yard on Friday between 10am and 4pm and also on the day itself. Another highlight of the festivities is a mask-making competition for children and adults. The beste adult mask will win a voucher from W.J. Pearsall jewellers in Okehampton and the children’s a book voucher from Okehampton bookshop Dogberry & Finch Books. Entries can be submitted on the day, with judging taking place from 2.30pm in the main arena. 

Music includes the Eddie Kingdom Jazz Band playing from 12.30pm followed by a perfomance by the Wren Music choir; there will also be a Dancersize demonstration; bouncy castles and a variety of food stalls and tea and cake provided by the ladies of the Inner Wheel in their traditional tentt. With a record number of stalls, a climbing wall and other attractions, it promises to be a great day of fun and entertainment, from 11am.

“The Rotary Club has been running a fair for many years now and we look forward to welcoming you to Simmons Park,” said event organiser David Potter from Okehampton Rotary Club. “It is our biggest charity fundraiser of the year and we look to raise a large chunk of our annual funds for charity from it.” The event had been nine months in the planning by rotary memebers, he added.

Pictured right, the ducks are released at last year’s fair.