A FUNDRAISING target has been set as the finishing touches are made to plans for this year's Lyme Regis and Charmouth Lifeboat Week.

The RNLI event will take place from Saturday, July 18 to Saturday, July 25 - with organisers hoping to raise £30,000 for the life-saving charity, to match last year's total.

Favourite events will return to the week this year, including the duck race, sand sports, the sand castle competition and the crab fishing contest.

Chairman of the organisers, the Lyme Regis and Charmouth RNLI Guild, Irene Roper, said: "We raised £30,000 last year and that is our target for this year, with the help of good weather.

"We hope to see plenty of entries for events such as the bathtub race and the fun run. We really want to see a large entry for the bathtub race which will be in the evening on Saturday, July 18.

"Rules for the bathtub race will be printed in the Lifeboat Week programme, but not surprisingly, entrants' vessels must include a standard household bath and engines are not allowed."

There’s something for everyone on every day, and among the highlights are the RAF Red Arrows flying in at 5pm on Monday July 20th, and the RAF Falcons parachute display team dropping in on the Friday.

This year sponsors feature prominently with the fireworks display backed by the Alexandra Hotel, Lyme Bay Holidays and Toad Hall Properties, the bath tub race sponsored by Rob Perry Marine, tug ‘o war sponsored by Tom Crabbe Electrical, the sandcastle competition supported by The Slipway and the duck race sponsored by the Alexandra Hotel.

Last year, around 20,000 flocked to Lyme Regis to catch a glimpse of the Red Arrows' performance.

Another first this year will be trophies presented to winners of a number of events.

The full programme of events will be released over the next few weeks.