A BEER and sausage festival held in Malmesbury proved extremely popular this weekend with a local beer proving the most popular.

Organiser Cllr Ray Sanderson started the event several years ago but did not realise how popular it would prove.

Since then he has gone on to bring the festival together and this year added a sausage competition which will be repeated in the years to come.

He said: “It went extremely well, I think there were about 400 people there on the Friday and on the Saturday.”

Cllr Sanderson did not have the final figures but said because so many people had been generous with their time and with sponsorship the festival was in a good position to raise funds for the schools.

He added: “I think we’re going to be raising three or four thousand pounds.”

As well as the money raised by the festival, which will go to Malmesbury’s primary schools, an extra £200 was raised by a wine bar for the Malmesbury and District Foodbank.

The award for the best sausage sponsored by Malmesbury’s Hilditch Auctioneers was snapped up by Wilson’s Family Butchers of Old Town, Swindon and the most popular beer of the festival was Habit from the Flying Monk Brewery in Chippenham.