MONMOUTH Rotary Club will once more raise funds for St David’s Hospice Care through its staging of the 52nd Monmouth Raft Race.

The organisers, who have staged the annual River Wye Raft race for the past 15 years, are now looking for sponsors to support the annual event in 2017.

Monmouth Raft Race will be staged on Sunday, September 3, this year with St David’s Hospice Care as the principal beneficiary.

The annual event sees teams of four or more build rafts and then paddle them 6.5 miles down the River Wye from the rowing club steps at Monmouth to Whitebrook.

Rotary president, Roger Finn, said: “We are very grateful to our existing sponsors and we are now trying to persuade more sponsors to dip their toes in the water, so to speak, and to back this hugely popular, very high profile event in 2017.

“Monmouth Rotary Club have been organising the Monmouth Raft Race for 15 years and in that time the event has gone from strength to strength. We have developed a strong bond with St David’s Hospice Care who remain the principle beneficiaries of the money raised through the event.”

Emma Saysell, chief executive of St David’s Hospice Care, said: “The continued support we get from Monmouth Rotary Club and our sponsors is truly amazing and important to us especially as our commitments will soon be considerably increased with the opening this year of the new 15-bed in patient centre in Malpas.”

The 2017 Monmouth Raft Race, organised by Monmouth Rotary Club, will take place on Sunday, September 3, starting from Monmouth Rowing Club and ending at Tump Farm, Whitebrook.

Entry costs £75 per raft including a commitment to raise a minimum of £100 in sponsorship. And early bird entrants, who sign up before June 1, pay just £50.

For full details about the 2017 Monmouth Raft Race, visit monmouthraftrace.com