CHARITY trailer rides are once again featuring at this year’s Great Dorset Steam Fair for some fundraising fun.

Every year at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, the charity trailer rides take passengers around the heavy haulage arena and collect funds for charities.

This year, organisers have chosen to support Macmillan and The Alfie O’Neill Cerebral Palsy Treatment Fund.

Throughout the event, which runs from Wednesday, September 2, to Sunday, September 6, at Tarrant Hinton near Blandford, the trailer rides will offer the visiting public the chance to get up close to the engines and activities whilst contributing to worthy causes.

The trailers are pulled by all varieties of engines by many dedicated engine men and their crew.

Every day, 14 people in Dorset hear the news that they have cancer and there are more than 30,000 people in the county living with cancer.

The total number of people living with cancer in Dorset will almost double by 2030, affecting enough people to fill the AFC Bournemouth football ground five and half times.

Money raised from the trailer rides will go straight to Macmillan to help those people living with cancer in Dorset.

The Alfie O’Neill Treatment Fund is raising funds for a little boy who brings love, laughter and tears to everyone who knows him.

Unfortunately, Alfie was born prematurely and as a result suffers from cerebral palsy, which has confined him to a wheelchair.

Alfie had Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery in May 2014, which is not available on the NHS and was fully funded by donations.

He now requires intense physiotherapy to ensure the operation is successful and money raised from the trailer rides during the Steam Fair will go towards keeping this important part of Alfie’s treatment going.

Rides are £2 for adults and a £1 for children and the trailers are equipped to take wheelchairs.

All proceeds from the ride will go directly to the charities.

The trailer rides can be found at the gates by the top and bottom corners of the heavy haulage arena and will aim to start at 10am daily – until there are no queues.

To find out more about these charities visit macmillan.org.uk Details are also available on Facebook, search for the The Alfie O’Neill Cerebral Palsy Treatment Fund.

To find out more information about the Great Dorset Steam Fair, visit the website at www.gdsf.co.uk