MORE than 50 members of the farming community in Wiltshire came together today (Sunday) to pay tribute to two friends who died in a crash on the A36.

Fifty-two farm vehicles were involved in a tractor run which was around a quarter of a mile long and led to huge tailbacks in the Rowde, Devizes and Melksham areas.

They were paying tribute to George Gould, 20, from Frome, and Lewis Gould, 19, from Warminster, two friends who died on July 12 after a car crash on the A36 near Hinton Charterhouse.

Organiser Solomon Pegden, 21, from Devizes, said: “It was a fantastic turn-out and went really well. We had 52 people taking part and we have raised £1,600."

He and George attended the same agricultural engineering course at the Wiltshire College & University Centre's Lackham Campus near Lacock.

Mr Pegden added: "I was really impressed with how the public dealt with it. I think we made the boys and the families proud.

"We were hoping to get around 200 vehicles but the weather is good and people are busy on the farms.

"We were trying to find something positive and something in memory of them is a way of getting our minds off what happened instead of dwelling on it."

Many of those involved met George while studying at Lackham College.

Mr Pegden said the farming community had come together following the loss. “We knew we needed to do something."

Many of the vehicles had donation buckets attached. There is also a fundraising page on Facebook.

The funds raised will be split between the two families and the Wiltshire Air Ambulance charity.