Crowds go quackers for ducks

Bewdley's annual New Year's Day duck race helped kick off an expected tourist boom for the town by attracting more than 1,000 people and raising £1,183 for local charities.

This year's race was won by eight-year-old Benjamin Fallon, a pupil at Hall Green Junior School, Birmingham, whose grandfather lives at Severn Quay in the town.

The popular attraction has now been running for more than 20 years and organisers say each year the designs become more outrageous.

This year was no exception as this year's assortment of colourful ducks included ones made of wood, man-made materials and balloons. Many of the home-made ducks were glowing with fluorescent colours.

Colin Hill, president of the Kidderminster and District Lions Club, which organises the event, said: "We are really pleased that so many people turn out for the race and every year we seem to get even more.

Town mayor councillor Louise Edginton, who presented the prizes, said the event had become a "fond favourite".

"It has really become established as a fun family event. It is wonderful to see so many people in the town," she said.

"We are trying to attract people to the town as shoppers and tourists and this type of event does just that.

"I have actually been in Bewdley now for 50 years, since New Year's Day in 1956, and it is just wonderful to come down to the riverside to present the prizes which are hotly competed for by the hundreds of contestants."

Members of the Wyre Forest Canoe Club collected the hundreds of ducks after the race to prevent them going downstream.

Shopkeepers also benefited from the influx of visitors and the nearby fish and chip shop was doing a roaring trade satisfying the appetite of customers.

This year, civic leaders and officials with local organisations in the town plan a series of other events to attract people in.