Organisers of a fundraising village fete stung by counterfeit £20 notes have warned other communities to be on their guard this summer.

The event at Great Milton, earlier this month, was hailed a great success - until six fake notes were discovered among the £5,200 profit destined for the village church.

Hundreds of people dipped into their pockets to help pay for St Mary the Virgin Church's running costs.

The Rector, the Rev Victor Story, said: "Unfortunately, this does show nothing is sacred any more, that there's no sort of morality or there's nothing people cannot do.

"It was a good afternoon and everybody really enjoyed themselves.

"It was an event for the whole village and for the community to come together.

"The discovery of the duff notes has rather besmirched the whole event.

"We have never had an incident like this before, but we understand from the police there have been other similar reports nearby."

Christine Donnelly, the sub-postmistress at Great Milton Post Office, discovered the forgeries when she counted the cash.

She said: "They were good fakes and would be hard to spot for someone not used to handling money day in, day out.

"It was the texture of them that first alerted me to it.

"I thought 'I don't like the look of that' and took it to the ultra-violet light I have in the shop.

"Once I had spotted one, I told the other person who was counting with me what to look out for and we soon found the others.

"It was too late for Great Milton, but I hope we can warn other people who are having summer fetes."

Villager Paul Cooper added: "It's awful that people can do a thing like this.

"I gather the hotdog stall, which was only charging 50p, was given some of the banknotes, so they got away with as much change as possible."

Mr Story said he had contacted the organisers of last weekend's fete in nearby Great Haseley to warn them of the problem and had been in touch with other event organisers.

Thames Valley Police spokesman Toby Shergold said: "Passing counterfeit notes for goods is basically stealing, so to do this at a fete, which is raising money for charity, is pretty shameful.

"We would like to remind organisers of fetes and other charity events they should check all banknotes given to them, just as any shop worker would."