Organisers of this year’s Soapbox Derby in Aldington say the event has raised a record £15,000 for charity.
Karen Barrett, licensee of the village's Walnut Tree pub and chair of the Soapbox Derby committee, said: “It was a fantastic day and a fantastic result for the charities we support - the Pilgrims Hospice, Ashford, and Reynolds Playing Field Association, Aldington.
“This is the third year we have run the Soapbox Derby and the event is going from strength to strength. The first year we raised around £5,000, the second, £10,000 and this year exceeded all our expectations.”
More than 3,000 visitors watched 37 soapboxes do battle on the steep hill between the Walnut Tree and Pattison Farm Close, on Bank Holiday Monday.
There were prizes for the fastest times, the best novelty soapbox and the Deedes Memorial Trophy, commemorating the late Daily Telegraph journalist Bill Deedes, who lived in the village. A special prize for raising the most sponsorship money, a £50 voucher for a meal at the Walnut Tree, was won by the Land Rover Experience team who raised more than £750.
Visitors chomped their way through three hog roasts, 600 burgers and 500 sausages at a barbecue and outside bar run by the pub. As well as the races, a village fair offered music and dancing, countryside displays and rides for children.