YOUNGSTERS from local primary schools had a big top treat at the circus to help Fairford-based education charity Ernest Cook Trust (ECT) celebrate its 60th anniversary.

Pupils from Fairford, Hatherop, Kempsford, Meysey Hampton, Southrop and Bibury primary schools were among 200 children invited to a one-off special performance by Cotswold-based Gifford’s Circus.

The charity’s staff, trustees past and present and tenant farmers from ECT’s estates were also on the guest list to help the trust celebrate its diamond jubilee.

ECT’s director Nicholas Ford said: “We wanted to involve the children who regularly visit our estates in our Diamond Jubilee celebrations and could think of no better way of thanking them than to treat them to a fun-packed evening at Gifford’s Circus. And a truly splendid time was had by all.”