AROUND 50 scooters filled Chippenham's Market Place on Saturday.

Riders in parkas and Chelsea boots came from far and wide for a Wiltshire Scooter Alliance ride out to promote an event taking place this weekend for Teenage Cancer Trust.

It is the first time The Constitutional Club on Foghamshire has been selected to host March of the Mods, where in the month of March there are events up and down the United Kingdom raising awareness of and money for the cancer charity.

March of the Mods raised £50,000 when it began in 2013, and this was doubled the following year.

Five bands playing music from the Mod era will be playing live at the Consti Club this Sunday, from 5pm to 11pm - The Kite Collectors, The Fallen Leaves, Mr Clean, Joe Mongan and Katie Hallam.

The Kite Collectors' lead singer Robbie Lord Allen, one of the main organisers, has played there before to raise money for Ben Conolly, the Chippenham teenager struck by paralysis in October 2013, days after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

Beth Albrighton, bar manager at the Consti Club, said: "There are no two March of the Mods events in a 60 mile radius and this time we have been chosen."

The charity has a £400 head start thanks to a bucket collection, raffle and T-shirt sales at Saturday's ride out.

It attracted riders from Exit 17 (Chippenham and Trowbridge), Devizes Sweet Sensation, Swindon In Crowd, Cirencester Centurions, Stroud Collective and Cheltenham and Gloucester Scooter Club, as well as some solo riders.

Colin Thom of Exit 17 won a prize for best Lambretta and best Vespa went to Doug Wilcox of Sweet Sensation. Both won an engraved hip flask, sponsored by the Consti Club and Hughes and Hughes Estate Agents.

Exit 17 member Mark Mitchell, 45, who will be doing a DJ set on Sunday, said: "It was a very good turn-out and there was a lot of people taking an interest in what we were doing there. It should be a great evening."

Tickets cost £6 and are available on 07849 491684.