IT WAS intended as a romantic gesture by newlyweds Glenn and Cody West - but it ended up as a national story about UFOs visiting Basingstoke.

The likely explanation for all the UFO excitement now appears to be a squadron of illuminated Chinese-style rice paper lanterns set adrift by a wedding party at Audleys Wood Hotel, in Alton Road, Basingstoke.

Shocked residents raised the alarm after they saw a group of strange lights and recorded the sight on video.

But neither the air traffic controllers at the National Air Traffic Service nor the Ministry of Defence were able to offer explanations.

Yesterday, however, wedding guest James Denning, 32, told The Gazette the explanation was a little closer to home than Martians.

He was attending the wedding reception of his friends Glenn and Cody West from Ash, near Aldershot.

He said: "We let off these paper Chinese lanterns - about 30 or 40 of them.

"A lot of them went across the top of the hotel and up and up for miles and that's all it was."

He said the lanterns were the brainchild of the 25-year-old bride, who bought about 40 of them for her guests.

Mr Denning, who works for Mars Drinks in Armstrong Road, Daneshill, said: "Every couple had to do one. That was the reason behind it.

"They did look like something from outer space because there were so many of them."

Mr West, 30, and his new wife are now on honeymoon in the USA.

Having seen what was recorded and shown on the internet, Mr Denning, from York Road, Ash, said: "They were pretty amazing, the pictures. It raised a chuckle among all the guests.

"I'm afraid it wasn't UFOs - it was just Chinese paper lanterns!"

David Osborne, 47, was one of those unable to explain what he saw and recorded between 10.40pm and 11.10pm last Saturday.

The father-of-three, who earlier that evening watched alien invasion movie Independence Day with two of his daughters, saw the eerie lights moving in the Alton to Odiham direction.

Mr Osborne, of Loggon Road, Cranbourne, said: "They were bright orange and high in the sky. I've never seen anything like it in my life."

Mr Osborne, a former Hewlett Packard account manager and now full-time carer for his 14-year-old daughter Georgia, later added: "My immediate thought was how awesome it looked. The old adrenaline really started pumping."

Further along Loggon Road, 47-year-old lorry driver Reg Lockyer was also unable to explain the lights he and his family saw from outside their house.

He said: "I couldn't believe it. I was absolutely shocked."