Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards provisionally booked for Wellington Festival

The festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year and organisers say they are hoping to secure Michael Edwards, who in 1988 became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping and was recently the feature of a film.

It is hoped the former Olympic ski jumper, who has written an autobiography, will be a speaker at the Wellington Town Council organised event and also take part in a question and answer session.

Organisers say they are hoping the event - which has rebranded from its former name of Wellington Literary Festival - will appeal to a more diverse range of people this year and will include comedy, dance, drama, poetry, photography, culture and literature.

This year's festival will open on October 7 and run until October 29.

Wellington Town Councillor Cindy Mason-Morris, who is on the Wellington festival committee, said: "There will be a greater emphasis on family and junior activities and events will take place at different times of the day, including afternoons, for people who in previous years have stated that they do not like to go out in the evenings.

"We are also planning on running a circus workshop in the centre of Wellington for the children.

"We thought about making it more concise this year and holding it in the space of two weeks but there's just been an amazing response and we are now back to three weeks.

"We have provisionally booked Eddie The Eagle and will hopefully be able to confirm the booking in the next few days.

"It is going fantastically and we have managed to keep it a free access festival as well."

Some of the acts appearing at this year's festival will include Bruce Lawson, author of the biography Charles Rolls of Rolls Royce and Tom Watts, actor, film producer and ghostwriter of David Beckham's biography.

The first weekend of the festival will include a comedy club night with local acts and Hannah Sylvester, who has won various comedy awards.

There will be an evening of poetry reading in a pub, a culture evening of dance, music and food and a fashion event.

Venues for the festival are still being finalised.

Volunteers are being sought to help with the festival, along with businesses who may be able to offer sponsorship.

Anyone interested can call (01952) 567696.