IT could be pom poms at dawn as Devizes spoof male dance troupe The Major Wrecks now has a rival in the shape of the Male Majorettes.

After 25 years of raising money for the charity Contact A Family most of the Major Wrecks have now defected to the new group which will make its first public appearance in Salisbury this weekend and appear in Devizes on June 13.

Both sides say the break up of the Major Wrecks is sad and wish each other well but there is a lot of disappointment that a rift has developed between the charity and some of the performers.

Former Major Wreck Keith Windsor, who is now one of the organisers of the Male Majorettes, said: "It is a shame this has happened. But we were told by Contact A Family that it was winding up The Major Wrecks so we decided to start a new troupe.

"We had to give back all of the kit and start completely from scratch. But we have had a lot of support and all of our members have dug into their own pockets to pay for costumes and other equipment."

Mr Windsor, who had performed with the Wrecks for about seven years, has also bought a van that will transport the team to performances.

The new group will still be raising money for charity but its fundraising will benefit Wiltshire Air Ambulance when it performs in Wiltshire and a yet to be confirmed charity for special needs children when it appears outside the county.

Contact A Family chairman Liz Smith, who was the original choreographer of The Major Wrecks and helped set up the group, said it was not end of the Wrecks.

She said: "The Wrecks haven't stopped. We are getting new recruits and we will back properly next year but there might be some guest performances this year as well.

"It is a very sad situation and I am sorry it has happened but I wish them well."

She said the issue arose early last year when the committee of Contact A Family realised that running The Major Wrecks was costing it money rather than adding to its funds.

She said: "We warned them we might have to stop. But they wanted to carry on and said they could raise more money.

"They had a fantastic summer and raised about £6,000 and we wanted to keep going but, at a meeting I couldn't be at for health reasons, there was a vote to disband the group."

Over the years the Major Wrecks who perform in distinctive red and white outfits with tights, garters, pom poms and lots of make-up have raised more than £100,000 for the charity.

The new group trained by Tahnee Emery has chosen similar outfits but in purple.

In 2007 the group said that year's Devizes Carnival would be their final appearance but they were persuaded by public support to keep going.