VIOLENCE marred the third annual beach party in Trowbridge park as a brawl broke out just yards from families.

A 51-year-old man suffered serious eye and facial injuries after allegedly being kneed in the face during the fight, which broke out close to the bandstand.

One man was arrested in Frome on suspicion of malicious wounding and later charged with causing actual bodily harm.

Eyewitness Christine Batstone, 44, who was in the park with her children when the fight erupted just before 8pm on Saturday, said: "This man's eye was like a balloon. It looked very swollen. He would have needed stitches in it.

"Security called for an ambulance and took him off.

"It does ruin the evening when something like this happens.

"It was right at the end of the day.

"It puts the mockers on things as it was a free festival and the kids were really enjoying it."

In a second incident a 10-year-old girl was locked in a public toilet for up to 20 minutes.

Mrs Batstone, of Park Road, said out of the three public toilets, one was vandalised, one had faulty lights and the youngster got stuck in the other one.

"I went to security guards and told them about the child," she said.

"They went off to find some keys but had to force the door open to let this 10-year-old out. She was quite distressed.

"I was disgusted to think it was a public event and the toilet facilities were so awful.

"These are the only three public toilets in Trowbridge after 5pm."

Organiser Steve Nash, sports and community officer for Trowbridge Town Council, condemned the violence and said the district council-owned toilets had caused problems at previous events.

"It doesn't matter what sort of event you hold, there will always be one or two who ruin it," he said.

"There was nothing we could do to prevent this from happening.

"We were not selling alcohol on site as it was a children's event.

"The district council definitely needs to look at these toilets.

"At the Spotlight on Trowbridge event the alarms were always going off.

"We do normally provide more toilets for events but we didn't expect thousands of people during the day."

District council spokesman Louise Knox said the council and Interpublic, the firm contracted to maintain the toilets, had received no complaints.

She said locking instructions are written clearly on doors, which will automatically open after 20 minutes anyway, as part of an anti-vandalism device.

A 28-year-old Frome man was due to appear before magistrates in Chippenham yesterday to face an ABH charge.