Ipswich Witches fans will get a chance to meet their favourite riders this weekend, as members of the team will be on hand at the annual St George’s Day Charity Bike Meet.

The event, now in its ninth year, will take place as usual at The Bell Inn in Main Road, Kesgrave, and feature hundreds of bikers across the county enjoying the day.

Among the highlights will be prizegiving for a host of awards, live music, and stalls, as well as fundraising for the organiser’s chosen charity.

Last year, more than 300 bikes took part in what has become one of the biggest events on the Friends United Motorcycle Club’s calendar.

But this year, the event has been boosted by the confirmation of Ipswich Witches riders being on hand to meet with fans and sign autographs.

The Bell Inn landlady Debbie McCallum said: “Speedway has been here longer than most of the houses and it’s very much an integral part of Kesgrave, so it will be great to have them here this weekend.”

As a Suffolk Coastal district councillor for west Kesgrave, Mrs McCallum and district councillor Stuart Lawson have teamed up with the Witches for a new project due to be rolled out later this year, which aims to get youngsters in the town celebrating Kesgrave’s heritage of speedway.

Chris Louis, director of speedway for the team, said: “Debbie came to me to say how can we get the people of Kesgrave backing the Witches and supporting the world class stadium that we have here – it’s the focal point for the community.”

The team will be at the meet from 2pm on Saturday.