This year's Sidmouth Lions Duck Derby will take place on Sunday, July 21 at The Byes – with prize money totalling £900 for the ‘ducky’ winners.

The event is an important fundraiser for the Lions, who donate proceeds to the Devon Air Ambulance and their own designated charities.

The event will start at 2.15pm with children’s Duck & Spoon Races on the flat lawn area near to The Byes cycle bridge. These free races are primarily for young children, in various age ranges up to eleven years old and involve running over a short course without the little yellow duck falling off their spoon. Afterwards parents and grandparents are usually invited to have a go.

The main Duck Race will start at 3pm with the spectacle of several thousand little yellow ducks ‘owned’ by members of the public being launched from the cycle bridge and jostling their way down the River Sid to the finish line between Lawn Vista Bridge and the big weir.

This year’s race is sponsored by Harrison Lavers & Potbury’s Estate Agent. The ‘owners’ of the first 19 yellow ducks to reach the finish will each receive a cash prize; the first prize is £300, second prize is £100, followed by eight £40 and nine £20 prizes.

Tickets at £1 each for the yellow ducks, can be purchased between10am and 4pm until July 20 (excluding Sundays), from the Lions stand outside the Co-op in Sidmouth High Street; also from 10am until early afternoon on Saturdays, July 13  and 20, from the stand outside Lidl in Woolbrook. Duck tickets are also on sale at: Paper Moon, 38 Fore Street; Cards@83 in High Street; the Devon Air Ambulance shop in Church Street and Woolbrook News in Woolbrook.

For more information about Sidmouth Lions Club visit www.sidmouthlions.org.uk