More than 300 people turned out in the sunshine and danced into the night helping a special couple from Welling raise funds for SSAFA.

Lisa and Alex Askew, of Darenth Road, organised the SSAFA Bandfest Charity event which had five bands playing and drummer Dave Kelly who has performed with Thin Lizzy, Status Quo and Bucks Fizz as the guest of honour.

SSAFA is a charity which helps men and women when they come out of the armed forces by giving them furniture and helping them return to everyday life.

Alex, 31, was serving as an infantry gunner in the RAF in Afghanistan when the couple they met on social media site Myspace in 2007.

Lisa, 32, told News Shopper: "SSAFA really helped Alex and I when he came out of the RAF.

"They gave us £5000 worth of furniture and that helped us, putting on this event is our way of saying thank you to them.

"The weather was fantastic, we had planned it for a year so it meant so much to us.

"It's a charity which is really close to our hearts and we even had a girl ask our host Duncan Newton to propose to their other half."

The event took place at the Old Mill in Plumstead and Paul Cook Blues Band, Rayband, Shadey Scandals who Alex plays guitar for, Sunday Uniform and Cream Crackered all performed.

Alex added: "It was a great day. Everyone had such a great time.

"We have even had people asking if we are going to start doing event organising for a living.

"Doing this one event has spurred us on to want to do more and more for SSAFA.

"We are already thinking about doing one for next year."

The event took place on Sunday (MAY 4) and has already raised £700 for the charity and the couple have yet to collect all the money. If you would like to find out more on the event visit the SSAFA Band Festival on Facebook.