VISITORS to a Chipping Sodbury church enjoyed a retro shopping experience during a vintage flea market on Saturday (October 3).

Stallholders selling homemade creations, materials and gifts lined St John’s Church, on Wickwar Road, for the 1940s and 1950s themed event in aid of the Cots for Tots appeal.

The market, which also included a vintage makeover section, was organised by Yate mother Debbie Elliott whose 13-year-old daughter Scarlet was born with a cyst on her stomach and needed an operation at just five weeks old.

Debbie, of Bisley, started organising the vintage markets four years ago in a bid to ‘give something back’ to the hospital staff which helped her daughter. The event on Saturday raised £326, bringing the total so far to £4,330 which has all been given to Cots for Tots.

“It went very well and there was a lovely atmosphere with music playing and the girls doing vintage hair,” said Debbie. “I would like to get another £600 or £700 in the bank before Christmas for the appeal.”

Debbie is holding the next market on Saturday, November 7 (10am-4pm) in St Mary’s Church, Yate for the first time. A Christmas fair will then take place in St John’s Church Centre, Chipping Sodbury on Saturday, December 5 (10am-4pm).