Hundreds of families soaked up the atmosphere at Malmesbury’s first festival aimed at raising funds for Malmesbury Vics football club, which was left strapped for cash after flooding.

The Mangled Wurzels were among those performing at Vic Fest, at The Wortheys, on Sunday.

Despite only having six weeks to arrange the gig, organisers were able to attract hordes of families to the grounds, which last year were under water, resulting in many of the club’s games being cancelled or postponed.

Club secretary Julie Exton was thrilled with the results on Sunday.

She said: “It was brilliant. There were about 400 people there at any one time.

“The money we have raised will help us get started again.

“The flood really did take it out of the club.

“Not running for a couple of months wiped the funds out, as such.

“So at the beginning we asked ‘what can we do to raise some money?’ and it grew from there.”

Among those performing were Emily McGrory from Luckington, Deena Hall and Darwin Republic.

Entertainment also included a fun fair, football games, a barbecue, bar, raffle, auction, skittles and bouncy castle.

Refreshments were provided by Gingerbread Malmesbury.

Mrs Exton said: “We didn’t have any money and it’s not easy trying to organise an event without any money, so we relied on donations and volunteers.

“People have been saying that we have to do it again next year, so we are going to try to build on it bit by bit.

“I want to make sure we keep it as local as we can.”