A SAILING charity will be dragging a 19ft keelboat to a Suffolk town centre today in a final push for votes in tonight’s TV contest for �50,000 in lottery funding.

The East Anglian Sailing Trust, based at Suffolk Yacht Harbour, in Levington, will go head-to-head with a Norwich charity in the People’s Millions, screened on ITV1 tonight at 6pm.

The group – which runs sailing trips for able-bodied and disabled sailors – is competing for public votes to win �50,000 in funding from the Big Lottery for a new waterside community centre at the marina.

And they are going all-out to attract votes from the people of Suffolk, bringing the keelboat to Ipswich’s Cornhill and handing out flyers at Tesco stores in Copdock and Martlesham.

Trustee Michael Hervey-Murray said: “It is a great cause and it really will help people with disabilities.

“It offers an opportunity to go sailing for people in the community who perhaps haven’t had the chance before now.

“We are all getting very tense and excited by the prospect of being on tonight, but we are optimistic that we will get lots of votes.

“We have had an overwhelmingly good response to the campaign. It is a great local project for Ipswich and for East Anglia so we are asking everyone to get voting.”

The charity has outgrown its existing warehouse on the marina, which has to be used for boat storage, maintenance, teaching, socialising and as changing facilities.

They are hoping the new waterside centre will let them expand their activities to include wildlife-watching, as well as accommodating their growing waiting list of new people wanting to join. Results will be announced on Tuesday.

n Voting lines open at 9am and close at midnight, costing 10p per vote. The telephone number is only available on the day of voting but readers can call 0333 0883278 to hear a recorded message with the number.