THOUSANDS of music lovers are expected to descend upon Halesworth Town Park this weekend. Gig in the Park kicks off today for the 12th year running and the bumper collection of acts include headliners The Undertones, pop band Showaddywaddy and local favourite The Lee Vasey Band.

THOUSANDS of music lovers are expected to descend upon Halesworth Town Park this weekend.

Gig in the Park kicks off today for the 12th year running and the bumper collection of acts include headliners The Undertones, pop band Showaddywaddy and local favourite The Lee Vasey Band.

Organisers have also selected 11 bands to perform a blend of original and cover songs on the Jungle Stage, which showcases talent from the local area.

This year, the Jungle Stage will open later, to provide an alternative to the acts on the main stage.

Headliners The Undertones formed in 1976 and their hits include the anthem Teenage Kicks, My Perfect Cousin and Jimmy Jimmy. Supporting them tomorrow night will be Baskery, a Swedish acoustic country punk band that are making waves in the music industry.

The 1970s pop group Showaddywaddy, pictured, will headline tonight, supported by Mundo Jazz and Jon Allen.

The popular group have enjoyed 10 top 10 singles including Under the Moon of Love.

Bringing proceedings to a close on Sunday will be popular East Anglian band Lee Vasey and a performance by Bungay blues act Hot or Wot.

Gig in the Park spokesman Andy Graham said the park site has capacity for 3,000 people. Tickets have not sold out yet, but advance tickets have been selling well.

He said there is likely to be tickets for sale over the weekend but added: “My advice is not to turn up too late as we could get close to capacity by the evening.”

He said the success of the event was down to the enthusiasm of the organisers and volunteers.

“As a result of that the public get behind it. It is something that is now established on people's calendars regardless of what bands are playing. That is what makes it a success.”

Mr Graham said there are about six people on the organising committee and about 50 or 60 volunteers would be working on the site over the weekend.

“A lot of the volunteers work in the music industry for different companies,” he said. “This is a bit of a holiday for them. We give them food and drink and they work for nothing. These people work with household names so we are very lucky to be able to tap into that pool of expertise.”

Mr Graham said that securing well-known headline acts had helped give the event credibility.

“Once big headliners came on board other people started to contact us,” he said. “The turning point was the year we had The Stranglers on - that raised the game. Then we were getting people contacting us.

“We are always striving for variety. Hopefully Showaddywaddy will pull in one audience and The Undertones a completely different audience. We try to put different stuff on so hopefully there is a bit of something for everyone. Come down if you haven't been before and give it a try. It is a unique event and the feedback we get from people is that once they have been they want to come every year.”

For more information and tickets go to www.giginthepark.co.uk