Bridport residents did what they do best at the weekend – embraced a new idea and made it their own.

The country’s first ever hat festival found a natural home in the town as residents donned every conceivable shape and size of headgear from baseball to bobble, from fedora to fez, from sombrero to sugarloaf, from tophat to trilby and everything in between.

Hatman Roger Snook who had the idea, said hundreds if not thousands of people turned out to make it a day to remember.

He said: “It went absolutely amazingly. It was better than we had expected with hundreds of people, if not a thousand people.

“The streets were so choc-a-bloc. It was truly amazing. There were so many people wearing so many hats of every form and fashion. People were loving it.

“When everybody is wearing hats, you’re all in the same gang.”

The festival included music, street theatre and activities in Bucky Doo Square as well as exhibitions, workshops, trade stands, demonstrations and competitions elsewhere in the town centre. Venues included the Bull Hotel, the Electric Palace, the arts centre, museum and Conservative Club.

Mr Snook said: “There were families in 1950s garb and one chap had a diving bell helmet on. It has done Bridport and the hat world the power of good. It has never been done in England before.”

Mr Snook and the committee are to decide whether to hold another festival next year.

He said: “Thanks go to all of the wonderful committee.”