Witham hockey and cricket clubs host their ninth annual Witham Beer Festival this weekend.

The event takes place at their shared ground in Maldon Road and there will be a range of about 130 real ales, ciders and wines available from August 22-24.

Organiser Matt Sims said: “We’re selling beer but of course it’s a family event.

“We do over 60 different real ales, most brewed locally, along with cider and wine.

“Weather permitting, there will be cricket going on too. It’s a great day out for families and then on the Friday evening we’ve got a band and Saturday is party night with DJs.”

Cricket fixtures will run each day, with a Twenty20 match on Thursday, over-50s game on Friday and a Two Counties League fixture on Saturday, starting at 1pm.

Thursday evening is a social night with only background music so that visitors can chat with friends.

The next night will see the return of last year’s big hit 6-String Makeover, a popular local rock band sporting covers from Johnny B Goode to Uptown Funk.

The festival closes with a party night on Saturday with DJ Phil Terry serving up beats as revellers try to drink the bar dry.

The hockey and cricket clubs will use the money raised from the event to maintain the pavilion building and continue to provide affordable sporting and social opportunities for the people of Witham and the surrounding area.

In recent years, funds raised by the festival have paid for extensive repairs to the drains, a replacement oven and fridges, new beer chiller and two new storage containers for the cricket and hockey clubs.

Fundraisers like the festival enable the clubs to keep both hockey and cricket affordable for the community.

Entry to the beer festival event is £4 and includes a souvenir festival glass for each customer.

More details of this year’s festival can be found online at withambeerfestival.co.uk.