THE roar of the mighty dragon will return to the River Ouse in the summer - and three York charities are set to benefit.

The organisers of the Great York Dragon Boat Challenge, The Rotary Club of York, confirmed the event will take place on Sunday, July 2.

President David Impey said the charities chosen to benefit next year, were Our Celebration, which helps people recovering from mental-ill health; the mental health charity York and District Mind; and the York Blind And Partially-Sighted Society.

This year's dragon spectacular raised more than £61,000 for children's charities in the city.

"Choosing a charity is always very difficult because there are so many very deserving causes," Mr Impey said.

"So we looked for charities which don't have as high a profile as those we have supported in the last three years.

"We selected these charities for the excellent work that they do locally in areas which do not easily attract financial support and we group them under the banner of supporting other supporters."

Mr Impey said they were "very proud" that more than £160,000 had now been raised for 20 local charities by the teams taking part.

Roger Thompson, chairman of York and District Mind, said: "We are absolutely delighted. It is an excellent opportunity to raise our profile and publicise the work we do in York for people affected by mental ill-health."

John Bettridge, chairman of Our Celebration said: "This is good news. Our charity has been helping people recover from serious mental ill health since 1986 but we are still relatively little known in the community. I hope that working with Rotary in this fashion will help spread the message about who we are and what we do."

Linda Hill, fundraising manager York Blind And Partially Sighted Society, said: "We're over the moon. We are a bit of a Cinderella charity and it will be great for our supporters to feel that their efforts are recognised in this way."

Updated: 09:54 Saturday, December 03, 2005