A record crowd swamped the village of Sherston this weekend to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Boules Festival.

The occasion was marked by the mayor of Malmesbury’s twin town Gien officially opening the event and was finished off by the French boules team once again taking home the tournament trophy.

After a slightly disappointing event last year, due to the weather and the biting recession, organisers were hoping for bumper crowds.

The finances were helped by the sponsorship of Wadworth’s.

Committee chairman Tony Weedon said: “It was a fantastic two days, I’ve been here 14 years and it was the busiest I’ve ever seen it.

“It was good to have our visitors over from Gien. As well as the mayor we had folk singers and dancers.”

For the special 25th anniversary celebrations extra activities were put on including a children’s area with games and competitions.

Mr Weedon said: “It was the first time we had run the kids’ zone which proved so popular we are definitely going to build on that in future.”

Funds raised from the festival go towards the Sherston 1016 charity, which provides Christmas vouchers for elderly residents.

Mr Weedon said it was too early to tell how financially successful it had been but early signs were promising.

He said: “The Wadworth sponsorship was a great help and we are very grateful for that. It’s still early but it looks like it was a very successful year.”

Despite the array of boules pistes which covered the High Street an army of volunteers helped clear everything away.

On the Sunday the festival tug of war was won once again by the Vine Tree pub.

Parish councillor Martin Rea said: “They always seem to put out a very competitive team. They have lots of young farmers which usually does the trick.”