AS floating fund-raisers prepare to race along the River Severn in the 26th annual raft race, organisers are appealing for more competitors to come on board.

One of the teams already signed up for the event on Sunday, May 9, is made up of eight Wyre Forest Community Housing neighbourhood wardens, who will be raising cash for seven-year-old chronic juvenile arthritis sufferer Victoria Price.

The team's captain, Kidderminster town centre warden John Sinclair, said he and his colleagues had decided to support regional charity Kids Like Us and The Arthritis Research Campaign after reading in the Shuttle/Times and News of Victoria's bid to raise awareness of her condition.

The courageous youngster was featured as she prepared to take part in a five-mile sponsored run at Sutton Park in Birmingham on Sunday, May 23.

Mr Sinclair said: "One of the wardens read about Victoria in the Shuttle/Times and News and knew about her because of being out and about so we decided to do the raft race for her chosen charities.

"Victoria and her mum came to see us last night to tell us about arthritis so we could appreciate what we were doing it for."

He added: "We think we are fairly fit so we can do it without too much extra training."

Other members of the team include neighbourhood wardens Mick McCool, Robert Winskill, Robert Cauzner and Naomi Lewis, town centre warden Lee Hanson and supervisor Kate Foxall.

The race spans eight-and-a-half miles of the River Severn from Areley to Stourport.

Mr Sinclair added: "We will be going around collecting sponsorship money from our company (Wyre Forest Community Housing) and local businesses.

"And we're going to give most of it to Kids Like Us because that is a West Midlands charity as opposed to national one. But we will also give some of the money to ARC," he added.

Meanwhile, Ron Cross, secretary of Kidderminster and District Lions Club, which has been organising event for a quarter of a century, said the organisation was hoping to see an improvement in the number of competitors, which had slumped following a cancellation in 2001 due to the foot and mouth outbreak.

"We had a dip when we had to cancel it and it's never fully picked up," he said, adding teams of four to 10 people could just turn up on the day.

"In an ideal world we would like to see hundreds of rafts," he said, adding the event, which starts at 9am and is expected to finish at around 4pm, was also a fun day out for spectators, who could congregate at the finish point, Stourport Boat Club.

"The main point of it is that people make their own rafts and bring them along and there is a prize for the best-dressed raft - and we would like to see a lot more rafts dressed up this year," he said.

"In the past we've had all sorts, ranging from bowls of fruit to an aircraft and a double-decker bus."

Anyone wishing to book a place in the event should contact Mr Cross on 01299 403816.