DOZENS of people are preparing to go out to a charity event in the city tonight as part of a global fund-raiser organised over the internet.

The Leopard Hotel in Burslem is one of 187 venues worldwide staging events for the Twestival aiming to help the 1.1 billion people worldwide who cannot access clean water.

Organisers used the micro-blogging website Twitter to gather more than 6,000 followers for fund-raisering events due to take place in London, New York, Paris and Tokyo.

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In Burslem, entertainment includes a set by DJ Fresh and other musicians, and a raffle of prizes donated by Burslem organisations including artware pottery Moorcroft.

Clare White, organiser of the Stoke Twestival, said the event could be the start of a shift in the way that events are organised.

Miss White, who worked with six others in organising tonight's entertainment, said: "People have always had good ideas in Stoke-on-Trent, but there's not always been that much action.

"The uptake of Twitter means it is a lot easier to organise events, particularly when we all have full-time jobs.

"The nice thing is that it does not matter where you live. You don't have to live in Manchester or London to take part in the event and if you can't get out, you can always watch it from your desktop."

Get more information about the event at http://stoke.twestival.com/

Tickets are £5 and doors open at 7pm.

Meanwhile, the whole series of Twestival events aims to raise £750,000 worldwide, with 17 cities in Britain taking part tonight.

The Twitter boom among British celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Philip Scofield and Fearne Cotton has helped circulate news of the events.

The Sun newspaper reports that Jonathan Ross is rumoured to be attending the London event.