ORGANISERS are heralding this year's Victorian Shownight as the best ever - but say shops must give more money to assure its success.

Weymouth's eighth late-night Christmas shopping extravaganza takes place on Thursday, December 14, with a host of festive activities and entertainment already planned, including a torchlight procession through the town and a firework display.

But chairman of the Trimar trustees, Tricia Houlberg is urging the resort's retailers to dig deep to come up with the vital sponsorship needed to ensure the annual shopping spree is a money-spinner for the hospice as well as the town's stores.

She said: "This is the wake-up call for the retailers in the town to cough up and get their sponsorship in. It would not be right if the hospice ended up subsidising the Shownight event which is so important to Weymouth's shops."

This year's Shownight evening will be the last one to be staged in December. Mrs Houlberg said they have responded to calls from traders to stage it in November from now on in a bid to get the Christmas shopping count-down off to a grand start.

And she predicted that this year's festivities would be better than ever. She said: "It just seems to be getting bigger all the time, drawing huge crowds which makes it the finest Christmas shopping event of its kind right along the south coast."

This year more youngsters than ever will be involved in the event. The Lobster Pot Rebels from Thornlow Preparatory School in Weymouth will be performing a selection of sea shanties on the night while a troupe of street artists from Budmouth Technology College - the Budding Jugglers - will be entertaining the crowds throughout the evening. And Weymouth College's Rubbish Band will also put in a noisy appearance.

Mrs Houlberg added: "On top of that we have a host of choirs, morris dancers, bands and other performers taking part in the event, including the Dorchester Carnival Band."

Shops stretching from Westham Road to Brewers Quay will be open for business on Shownight and the land-train will be operating a free service for shoppers throughout the evening.

Leading sponsors for the extravaganza include the Dorset Echo, Debenhams, Poundbury Publishing and Cineworld. The popularity of the shop-mobility scheme at last year's event for disabled shoppers will be repeated this year from 4pm-6pm.

Mrs Houlberg said: "We're still keen to hear from those who would like to run a stall on the night or volunteers to help out in any way. Raffle tickets are already on sale around the town.''

For more information about Shownight please contact the Trimar office on (01305) 766665 or fax (01305) 777242.