SCOOTER rally organisers have been overwhelmed by the success of their first event in mid Cheshire.

The inaugural Mid Cheshire Scooter Rally and Beer Festival raised more than £8,500 for charity and prompted a ‘phenomenal’ response from festival-goers, who flocked to the event in their hundreds.

Tim Henshall, event organiser, said: “The response that we’ve had, particularly on Facebook, has been phenomenal.

“Within hours of the rally closing on the Sunday we were flooded with messages from people from across the UK.

“The rally is definitely scheduled to go ahead again.”

The three-day event was held at Blakemere Craft Centre on July 12, 13 and 14.

The Rotary Club of Northwich Vale Royal, which organised the event, has been totting up the cash raised at the event and has decided to give £1,750 to each of the event’s five nominated charities.

These include the North West Air Ambulance, The Joshua Tree, St Luke’s Hospice, the RNLI and Hope House Hospice.

Tim said: “Ideally what we’d hoped for was to raise £1,000 each for the charities so as far as I’m concerned this is brilliant.

“I thought £1,000 each was ambitious for a first event so £1,700 each is very pleasing.”

He added: “I want to thank the councillors that supported us and all the local businesses – there’s too many to mention but i want to thank everyone for their support.

“In these times of austerity it’s hard, charities are finding it hard, with the demise of Northwich Memorial Hall we’re having to downsize the beer festival and with the demise of Weaver Square we’ve had to go out on the streets with Father Christmas because we’ve nowhere for a grotto.

“To come up with a new event and for it to do so well just makes it really worthwhile.”

• A celebration evening with a live band and disco will take place in October when each of the charities will be presented with a share of the funds.

Tim said: “We feel we want to celebrate such a great success so we’re hoping charity supporters will come along, have a bit of a shake a leg and a bit of fun and celebrate.”

The event will take place at Hartford Social Club, in Bradburns Lane, on October 12.