BRIDPORT: The Hat Auction held at the Bridport & West Dorset Club by Bridport Hat Festival raised a total of £709.

This sum was reached with the expert help of the auctioneer Jim Rowe, of Symonds & Sampson, right.

All money raised will be going to this year’s selected charities, Brain Tumour Research and BIRT, the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust.

Over 100 hats had been kindly donated by the people of Dorset and handed in under the ‘Hat Amnesty’ at the West Street shop of festival founder Roger Snook.

Proceedings began with a ‘free for all’ trying on of hats displayed on the club’s covered snooker tables that had been sorted and numbered.

The hat collection ranged from the peculiar to the elegant. Included in the selection were Panamas, tweed caps, turbans, vintage wedding hats and even a jester’s topper.

Amongst the interesting and varied displayed items was a hat owned and donated by the actress Rula Lenska.

This hat auction event marks the start of the coming weekend Bridport Hat Festival that opens on the evening of Friday, September 5 with a concert by festival patron Hank Wangford at the arts centre. Saturday will see a whole day of hat-centred celebrations taking over the town.

This will include a not to be missed humorous talk by Roger Snook ‘Hats in History’ at 11am and a talk by the renowned milliner Isabelle Mazzitelli at 3pm, ‘Iconic hats in Literature and Film’, both at the Bull Hotel. Tickets are £6 and can be purchased at the Tourist Information Centre or at the door.

For more details of the full programme of events that extend to Sunday, September 7, see bridporthatfest.org or phone 01308 250350.