A VIKING invasion is set to hit a Suffolk riverside town this weekend as part of a maritime celebration.A marauding party will invade Woodbridge and pull a replica long ship along The Thoroughfare in the town centre before setting up camp by the Deben, where visitors will be able try their hand at Viking fighting skills and learn about how they lived.

A VIKING invasion is set to hit a Suffolk riverside town this weekend as part of a maritime celebration.

A marauding party will invade Woodbridge and pull a replica long ship along The Thoroughfare in the town centre before setting up camp by the Deben, where visitors will be able try their hand at Viking fighting skills and learn about how they lived.

The event is all part of Maritime Woodbridge, which is being staged on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm and is expected to attract around 10,000 visitors to the riverside town.

Event chairman Michael Rines said the event would be bigger and better this time with even more for people to see and do.

He said: “The marine exhibition in one of the former Whisstocks boat sheds will be bigger than ever, and the Maritime Proms, a free nautical music concert, will again round off the afternoon on both days.

“Even if it rains, visitors should not be put off, because so much is under cover in the massive former boat sheds.”

On the Viking theme, there will be a treasure hunt, plus lectures on the Vikings in Suffolk by Time Team historian Dr Sam Newton and on how the Vikings built and sailed their ships by Vibeke Bischoff, curator of the Rosskilde Viking Ship Museum, in Denmark.

Classic wooden boats of all kinds and sizes will assemble at the quay. Four Thames sailing barges are expected, and three yachts formerly owned by Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome, will be open to visitors.

There will be exhibitions of marine paintings and photographs, the Tide Mill and traditional boat building yards and sailing clubs will be open to visitors, and there will also be an opportunity to try paddling a coracle in a specially constructed pond.

Throughout there will be free boat trips, and shanty groups and two bands will create a festive atmosphere.

A Suffolk Punch-drawn carriage will connect the event to the attractions in the town, which will be open as part of National Heritage Open Days, and will include the Town Museum, the Suffolk Punch Heavy Horse Museum, Buttrums Windmill and the Quaker burial ground wildlife haven.