THOUSANDS of bikers are expected in Royal Wootton Bassett this weekend for the annual Ride Of Respect.

The 15 mile mass ride was started in 2010 to pay tribute to those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bikers will ride out from Hullavington airfield in packs of 500 every half hour on Sunday morning.

And there will be live bands and food stalls at Wootton Bassett Academy.

Sunday will be an extra special day for Jody Chadbourne and Jason Cross, who will be spending their honeymoon camped out in the academy’s field so they can take part in the ride.

They are travelling from Luton, in Bedfordshire, to get married in Chippenham and have taken part in every previous Ride Of Respect.

Coach driver Jason, 43, said he was looking forward to Saturday but was getting nervous.

His bride Jody, 27, will be walking down the aisle in leather jacket and jeans, after pulling up to the register office on the back of her father’s Kawasaki 750.

She said: “Last year I said to Jason, We’re going anyway, why don’t we just get married there?”

They hope that by making all their guests wear Ride Of Respect T-shirts they can raise £600 for their charities.

Those to benefit will include UKHomes4Heroes Pride And Passion, Bike Tours 4 the Wounded, Armed Forces Bikers, Army Benevolent Fund and Walking with the Wounded.

Jason said: “The troops go out and protect us as a nation. And when the going gets tough, when they get back our money helps support them. Bikers are one big family and we all pitch in.”

Attending the wedding will be the Ride Of Respect’s organisers, biking grandmothers Julia Stevenson and Anne Cole, who have raised about £500,000 since the event began.

The route changed after servicemen were repatriated to RAF Brize Norton not Lyneham, but this year returns to Wootton Bassett.