HUNDREDS of people are gearing themselves up for events to mark the fourth annual Somerset Day on Friday, May 11, celebrating everything that's great about our county.

Concerts, fairs, walks and tea parties are among the events over the weekend - and people are being urged to organise more fun activities and to send the details to info@somersetday.com.

Among the programme is an attempt to create the county's biggest ever tea party.

The three-day Great Somerset Tea Party starting on Friday and lasting through the weekend in aid of St Margaret's Hospice Care aims to raise £26,000 - the cost of a day of care across the hospice's services.

Nigel Muers-Raby, chairman of Somerset Day organisers Passion for Somerset, said: "The Somerset Day movement is definitely growing, and we’re expecting a real buzz over the weekend of May 11.

"Whether you attend one of the many events taking place in our towns and villages, or perhaps you feel like organising your own, this is a great opportunity to celebrate the community you live in.

"We’re particularly pleased to be joining with St Margaret’s Hospice for its Great Somerset Tea Party campaign, which aims to create the biggest team party Somerset has ever seen."

The first Somerset Day was held in 2015 following a public vote that chose May 11 in honour of Alfred the Great, famous for routing the invading Vikings from his Somerset marshes stronghold in May 878.

Somerset County Gazette:

Other planned events include.

FRIDAY, MAY 11:

  • The A-Z Challenge running from 7am to 8pm, with people asked to visit businesses each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.
  • Summer lunchtime concert, St John's Church, Taunton, 12.45pm to 1.45pm.
  • Pride of Somerset Youth Awards, Bridgwater and Taunton College Conference Centre, Taunton, at 6.30pm.
  • Somerset-themed networking tea party, Rural Enterprise Centre, Royal Bath and West Showground.
  • A Race Against Time: The Story of the Kenyon Photographic Archive, The Museum of Somerset at 2.30pm.
  • Cothelstone Hill Heritage Walk, 10am to noon.
  • Cider and cheese tasting and the Mendip Morrismen, Railway Inn, Sandford 6pm to 7pm.
  • Somerset Day celebrations, Clevedon Pier, 10am to 4.30pm.

SATURDAY, MAY 12.

  • Somerset Food and Craft Fair and Flower Festival, Long Sutton Village Hall and Church.
  • Craft fayre, Shapwick Village Hall, 2pm to 5pm.
  • eat:Taunton, Hammet Street and St Mary Magdalene Church, 10am to 4pm, with more than 70 local food and drink producers.
  • Craft fair, Bishops Lydeard Village Hall.
  • A celebration of musical talent, Cedars Hall, Wells, from 6.30pm.

SUNDAY, MAY 13.

  • Local Producer’s Fayre, Brean Leisure Park.