A bonfire society's annual celebrations are at risk because of a shortage of cash.

The final touches are being put to this year's Littlehampton Bonfire Society event but organisers say future celebrations are seriously in doubt.

It costs about £16,000 to stage the event, which always attracts thousands of people and is one of the town's largest events of the year. All money raised during street collections on the day and night of the parade and fireworks display are given to local charities so the cost of the event needs to be raised beforehand.

Money has not been as forthcoming as usual this year, partly because fund-raising events held during the year have either been cancelled or were a wash-out.

Society members are urging as many people as possible to show their support by making this year's celebrations on October 29 a night to remember.

Society secretary Richard Cooper said: "The object of our celebrations has always been to present a spectacular evening's entertainment as a means of raising money for local good causes.

"The cost of staging the celebrations must be raised before the event can take place.

"Costs continue to rise, in particular unavoidable expenses such as crowd safety costs and insurance, which must be met before we can hire bands or book a firework display.

"Contrary to the belief of many spectators, the bands have to be paid for and this forms a major part of our annual budget.

"Efforts to secure additional grant funding have also been unsuccessful so far and losses in recent years have already eaten into our reserves.

"We have been advised by the town council that we should retain part of the street collection to help pay for the cost of our celebrations.

"This is contrary to the aims of our society and those of our fellow Sussex bonfire and carnival societies.

"We fear this would also result in the loss of volunteers who give up so much of their time to organise the event in the knowledge that local charities and good causes will benefit. We will therefore resist this option for as long as we are able.

"We wish to continue to stage an event of the quality Littlehampton has come to expect of us but we have reached the point that without more financial support this will sadly no longer be possible.

Measures taken to ensure the bonfire night can continue include raising the cost of programmes to £1.

People are also being urged to buy copies of the society's commemorative book Fifty Years of Fire which are on sale for under £10 from David O Jones Sports in Littlehampton and the town's museum.

The official programmes will shortly be on sale in shops in Littlehampton and Rustington and at tourist information centres in Littlehampton, Worthing, Arundel and Bognor.