Few tickets left for first ever Somerset Day launch

The event will be hosted by David Fothergill, chairman of Somerset County Council, and attended by the Duke of Somerset, patron of the event on Monday, May 11, at the Museum of Somerset, Taunton.

David Fothergill.

The event comes as street fairs, fates, events and competitions are planned across the whole county as excitement builds for the big day.

Money raised from the evening will go to one of the chairman’s nominated charities STAR - Somerset Trust for Arts and Recreation - a local charity for looked after children.

Morris dancers will greet attenders in the museum courtyard and there will be an Illustrated talk on Alfred’s Somerset by Tom Mayberry, chief executive of the South West Heritage Trust.

Tom Mayberry.

A Somerset Treasure Map will also be held with the first prize a private guided tour of the Museum of Somerset for up to 12 people or a day with the Quantock Rangers for two people.

The evening will end with a Somerset-themed auction.

David said: "Somerset Day will be a day to celebrate all that is great about the county of Somerset and this promises to be a very special event."

The day of celebrations was organised earlier this year after 8,000 voters from right across the whole county voted in Alfred the Great to become the official new ambassador of Somerset.

The Somerset Day organising group, Passion for Somerset, was created by Somerset businesses to represent the county's 900,000 residents who live in an area from Bath in the east, to Minehead in the west, Yeovil in the south and Portishead in the north.

Organiser Nigel Muers-Raby, of Pardoes solicitors, was the brains behind Passion for Somerset.

Nigel Muers-Raby, right, with Jenny Evans, of Pardoes.