VISITORS will be enjoying beers on the boundary as a cricket club gets ready to host the annual beer festival.

Witham Hockey Club and Witham Cricket Club will jointly host the seventh annual Witham Beer Festival between Thursday, August 24 and Saturday, August 26 at their shared ground in Maldon Road.

Visitors will be able to taste the best of East Anglian beers, with more than 100 regional brewers involved, including Colchester Brewery and Essex brewer Crouch Vale.

Visitors can look forward to enjoying live music along with club cricket matches on Friday and Saturday evening.

Among the performers will be 6 String Makeover, live on Friday evening and the band Crème de Chèvre on Saturday evening, which will draw the beer festival to a close.

A spokesman for the Witham Beer Festival said: “Last year 2016’s Witham Beer Festival proved to be the best yet, but this year’s festival is set to be the biggest and best ever.

“We had a 120ft marquee, over 80 beers and ciders and a larger range of wines.

“The attendance was superb, as was the support from businesses and also volunteers from the two sports clubs who helped out.

“We’re planning for it to feature a social evening on the Thursday when we first open, followed by a great weekend on the Friday and Saturday.

“This will be the seventh beer festival Witham has held and we are looking forward to seeing well over 5,000 people there.”

Funds raised by the festival in the past have paid for repairs to the drains and equipment at the club.

This year the hockey and cricket clubs will use the money raised from the event to maintain the pavilion building and pay for repairs.

It is hoped a record amount will be raised with the popularity of beer festivals, micro breweries and ale higher than for a long time.

Tickets can be bought on the gate and entry is £4, but includes a souvenir polycarbonate festival glass for each customer. To find out more visit withambeerfestival.co.uk.