A FAMILY celebration in Savernake Forest turned into an afternoon of terror for a Swindon family after their nine year old son wandered off in the woods.

Minutes after the boy, whose family has asked not to be named, asked if he could go off and climb a tree his mum and dad realised he was missing.

What started out as a small family group looking for the boy turned into a full scale search involving dozens of police officers including dog handlers, the Wiltshire force helicopter, Wiltshire Search and Rescue Group and up to 100 holiday makers.

For two hours the search teams, with each group of picnickers and campers led by a police officer, scoured the dense woods around the Postern Hill camping and picnic site.

The parents' trauma of having their eldest son missing was not helped, said the father, when one person commented that Michael Ryan (who became notorious for the Hungerford massacre in 1987) started his trail of slaughter just a short distance away in the forest's Grand Avenue.

The boy was eventually spotted, not by the teams of searchers or the police helicopter, but by two women who saw him standing forlornly on the side of the A4 Marlborough-Hungerford road by the entrance to the Grand Avenue.

They were heading from Newbury to do some shopping in Marlborough and a mobile telephone call from them to the police brought the search to an end.

The boy's father who was brought up in Marlborough and used to play in the forest as a boy said: "It was a bit of an adventure."

He said the family had gone to the Postern Hill picnic site for a barbecue to join in a celebration of their friends child's first birthday

He said: "We got there just after mid day and were helping set up the barbecue when our son asked if he could go to a little clearing next to us.

"After a few minutes he was nowhere to be seen and to start with we looked around the area ourselves with some of the people from the barbecues."

When the family search proved fruitless, said the father, it was decided to call the police.

The police arrived in force with Marlborough officers calling for reinforcements from other parts of the county.

The police were pleased to accept offers of help with the search from many of the campers and picnickers at the Postern Hill site.

Officers also asked the Wiltshire Search and Rescue Group to join in the search of the 2,500 acres of dense woodland.

Sgt Andy Peach, who was acting sub-divisional commander at the weekend, said all available police resources were drafted in after the family reported the boy was missing.

The sergeant said: "It was believed he had wandered off but that was as much as the family could tell us."

Sgt Peach said: "We had loads of volunteers and they joined in groups, each led by a police officer."

He said well over 40 members of the public joined in the search in co-ordinated groups.

The search of the huge area the only privately owned forest in the country and owned by Savernake Estate went on for nearly two hours before the two women reported finding a lost boy.

Sgt Peach said the boy was unhurt apart from being a bit distressed both by getting lost and knowing the anguish his family would be suffering.

The boy, said the father, was "surprisingly calm" when he was returned to his parents. He said: "We have had lots of discussions with him and I think he has learned a very hard lesson."

He said the boy's first words when the family was reunited were: "Am I grounded for this?"

The father said: "My wife was getting a little bit fraught and I must say that all sorts of things went through our minds."

He said the family could never thank all the people who took part in the search enough, especially holiday makers who gave up their afternoon.

The barbecue eventually went ahead and many of the campers who had helped in the hunt were invited to join in.

Sgt Peach has appealed to families, especially those not familiar with the forest, to remain together and not to allow children to wander off.