THOUSANDS of people flocked to Verwood at the weekend for an annual fundraising event.

The Rotary Club’s Rustic Fayre, which takes place at Potterne Park, has been hailed as one of the “best ever” by organisers.

And for the first time ever, visitors were entertained from on high with fly-past from two classic planes.

Rotary chairman Vern Harris said: “It was a brilliant year for the fayre.

“In many ways, it was a perfect day. The weather was absolutely right, the crowd came out and enjoyed themselves, the exhibits were fantastic – we had it all.”

Although the number of visitors has not yet been made official, Mr Harris said the figure is “in excess of 5,000”.

“There were queues for the beer tent from 12.30pm until 5pm,” he said.

“It was a similar situation for the burger bar. A huge number of people took part in the archery sessions. We also had around 268 classic cars on display. In the end, we were turning people away from displaying their cars because we ran out of space.”

But the highlight for many was an airborne demonstration by a World War Two Spitfire and Hurricane.

Mr Harris said: “It was breathtaking. The whole show stopped for that. We were expecting to have a very quick fly-past, but in the end, the Hurricane came first, and 15 minutes later, the Spitfire went past. It was fantastic and made the event very special.”

Visitors were also treated to steam engine and tractor displays, as well as terrier racing, a mountain bike aerial display and the messy egg-throwing competition.

Money raised will be divided amongst local charities, with cheque presentations set to take place on November 26.