CHIPPENHAM Motor Company's free car maintenance lessons for women proved to be a great success.

The first Women with Drive event, organised to help women understand their cars and basic maintenance, was fully booked and well received.

Catherine Fallon, of Chippenham Motor Company, said: "The event was a huge success and we actually had 21 women attend the event, despite only having 20 places. It was great to have a full house and we are looking forward to the next event on May 18.

"As the event was free, we asked if the ladies could make a small donation to Julia's House at the end of the session and we received some very generous donations for the charity.

"Based on the success of these two events, we will be rerunning it in the future and we will also have classes for gentleman too."

The technicians taught the women about how to maintain their cars, what to do in an emergency and what warning lights on their dashboard meant.

Fiona Watkins, who attended the event, emailed Chippenham Motor Company to thank them for the workshop, noting that it was a "brilliant idea, very useful and extremely well organised" and that the goodie bag at the end was a "lovely bonus".

The total amount raised for Julia's House will be announced after the second Women with Drive event.