An armada of rubber ducks set sail in Suffolk on Saturday as part of an annual event raising funds for a new Scout hut.

East Anglian Daily Times: In they go: The ducks are set free. 1st Grundisburgh Scout Group, Duck Race at Grundisburgh Village Green. Picture: Steve WallerIn they go: The ducks are set free. 1st Grundisburgh Scout Group, Duck Race at Grundisburgh Village Green. Picture: Steve Waller (Image: � Copyright Stephen Waller)

The eighth Grundisburgh Duck Race saw 2,000 of the bright yellow birds launched onto the River Lark as hundreds of onlookers cheered from the banks.

Funds raised from the event are hoped to top the £3,000 mark, which will go towards a new headquarters for the village’s Scouts, Guides and Brownies.

Scout group secretary Pat Ross said it was a “beautiful day” and the event went “wonderfully well”.

After bobbing gently along the river, under bridges and through gardens, the flotilla was fished out, its winning members identified and prizes awarded to the corresponding ticket holders.

Mrs Ross said the event had grown in popularity over the eight years it had been held, raising increasingly larger totals for the new hut.

“We’ve still got a long way to go but we are gradually getting there,” she said.