ORGANISERS of Marlow Town Regatta and Festival are hoping it will be a big success this weekend.

Months of planning will come to fruition on Saturday and thousands of people are expected to flock to the town.

The event is the first of its kind and replaces the annual Marlow Regatta which has moved to Dorney Lake near Eton.

This year there will be more traditional races, such as dragon boat racing on the River Thames at the festival, with the higher level rowing at the professional facilities at Dorney next weekend.

Many schools have entered teams and there is going to be a packed rowing schedule.

Marlow town and Wycombe district councillor James Campbell, one of the organisers, said: "I would not be surprised if we have 3,000 people.

"Everything is going ahead magnificently and is set to be a very good day."

Mr Campbell added that the organisers had to close their subscription lists early.

He said: "We have had a phenomenal number of entries for the rowing, over 200 in fact."

The packed rowing schedule means that there will be races from 8am to 8pm and many attractions are planned by the waterside, including a traditional fair.

Subscribers can take advantage of their own beer tent and Pimms tent.

Patrick Gazard, director of music at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School, will be conducting the first concert of a piece of music written to celebrate the achievement of Sir Steven Redgrave.

Lance Slater, another organiser of the event, said: "What we set out to do was recreate the traditional experience and all that went with it in past years."