Pulling together for Sunday's Newark Dragon Boat Festival

Three dragon boats that unexpectedly became vacant ahead of Sunday's racing have been successfully auctioned.

The boats and been booked and paid for in advance but the teams that were supposed to be rowing them unexpectedly had to withdraw.

Those teams and the race organisers agreed to auction the boats to the highest bidders to maximise the revenue that the two charities behind the event —Beaumond House Hospice Care and the Children's Bereavement Centre — can glean from the event.

A group of independent businesses in Newark pulled together to take one. They are Buckley Landscape Supplies, Liberty & Honey, Lace Boutique, New Mode Boutique and The Cakehouse.

The team hopes to raise £1,000 for the festival's nominated charities.

Matt Buckley, from Buckley Landscape Supplies, said: "They are really important charities to the local area. We're all quite new, independent businesses, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to raise a bit of awareness about ourselves and the charities involved.

"We've just got to try and raise as much money as possible by Sunday. It doesn't really matter about winning, we're just trying to raise as much money as we can.

"Hopefully we get a nice bit of weather too."

To help the team with their fundraising, visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RebeccaHaggar2.

The other successful bidders were Collingham Young Farmers and NALC Auctions.

The first race in the Newark Dragon Boat Festival on the River Trent by Riverside Park starts at 10am and racing carries on throughout the day.

A whole host of family-orientated fun, activities and entertainment will also take place on the riverbank on the day.