A FAMILY firm in Devizes has come to the rescue of a charity music festival that was hit by heartless thieves who stole thousands of pounds of fencing from a secure compound.

Grist Environmental has stepped in to offer a free loan of essential metal barriers similar to ones stolen and will provide free hire of toilets and a full clean-up service on the day and after the Concert At The Kings in All Cannings.

Owner Nigel Grist said: "We will be providing all of our services for free this year. The concert does a fantastic job raising money for cancer charities. Everyone during their lives will know someone who has been affected by cancer. When we heard what had happened we just wanted to be able to help."

His son Marcus will oversee all the environmental details at the concert and the clean-up of the ground and village afterwards.

Rock Against Cancer organiser John 'Grubby' Callis was overwhelmed by the firm's generosity. He said: "They are saviours to us. When the theft happened it made me feel sick that people could do that. But now this has restored by faith. It will make a tremendous difference.

"The hire of the toilets alone would have cost us £5,000. The fencing that was taken would have cost about £20,000 to replace."

To help with publicity for this year's concert on May 26, which headlines Billy Ocean, one of Grist's giant dust carts has been sign written as a bill board with the names of all the acts appearing.

Richard Baulu, who is landlord of the Kings Arms, said: "Grists have been working with us for about six years so know all about what we do. We are very grateful that they have offered their services for free. It is worth thousands of pounds to us."

He said ticket sales were going well thanks to big names on the bill which includes Mike and the Mechanics singer songwriter Paul Carrack. He said: "I think this is the strongest line-up we have ever had and people will really know the music and songs that will be played."

It was also announced this week that the concert will feature as a fringe event to the BBC's Biggest Weekend. Mr Baulu said: "It means a lot of extra free publicity for us."

Billy Ocean will go straight from All Cannings to appear at the Biggest Weekend in Coventry the next day. To book tickets for Concert At The Kings go to www.concertatthekings.co.uk