GAZETTE & HERALD: CHARLES Dickens is due to make a visit to Corsham this summer, when the Pickwick Theatre Company holds a celebration of the writer and performs a play based on the Pickwick Papers.

But the project could be scrapped if the company doesn't find three enthusiastic young actors to play the parts of the younger characters in the production.

"This is a sticking point they are so essential to the plot we can't go on without them," said Charles Garrett, of the Pickwick Theatre Company.

"We need three actors aged between 18 and 30, one to play Sam Weller, and two to play dissolute medical students, fond of smoking cigars and drinking."

The play will be staged at the Pound Arts Centre, together with some promenade street theatre, with scenes from the Pickwick Papers around the streets and gardens of Corsham at the end of July.

The theatre company is also planning a Dickensian lunch at the Flemish Weaver in the High Street.

Mr Dickens is believed to have visited Corsham while devising the Pickwick Papers. It is believed while residing at the Hare and Hounds Inn he saw a van with the name Moses Pickwick painted on it and thus the character Mr Pickwick was born.

Anyone who wishes to audition for one of the three parts should contact Mr Garrett on (01249) 712584.