A RECORD amount of profits helped the organisers behind this year's Goatfest give £500 to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Members of Goatacre Cricket Club met paramedics at the airbase on Monday to hand over the cheque from the club, the festival and festival sponsor Chemring PLC, following the event last September.

"It costs a lot of money to run a cricket club and that's one of the reasons we started up Goatfest three years ago," John Wilkins of Goatacre Cricket Club said. "We don't just want to make money for the club though, we want to help local charities and this year we picked the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

"It was quite a wet event this year but that meant more people stayed inside the beer tent and as a result, we had a record amount of profit! We raised £5,000 for the club and £500 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance and on Monday we spent some time with the paramedics to find out where that money would go."

The Wiltshire Air Ambulance is trying to raise £1.25 million for its appeal to build a new airbase near Semington.

Rebecca de la Bedoyere, senior fundraising manager at Wiltshire Air Ambulance, said: “We’re so grateful to Goatacre Cricket Club and Goatfest for their continued support and to Chemring Plc for their generous donation of £500. Their support will enable our helicopter and crew to continue their lifesaving work all over Wiltshire.”