A SILENT auction has raised more than £4,000 - thanks to the efforts of a local rotary club.

The Rotary Club of Lyme Regis hosted an online silent auction which ran from Friday, March 12 and continued until Sunday, March 28.

The auction boasted more than 100 lots, generously donated by members of the public. These included a weekend in a Lyme Regis holiday cottage, a live 'cook along' class with chef Mark Hix, half a day fishing trips off Lyme Regis Harbour and a collection of Deep Purple memorabilia donated by the band's lead singer, Ian Gillan, who lives locally.

Over the 16 day period, the auction was able to raise more than £4,000 - all of which will be donated to charitable causes.

Bids came in from not just all over the country but from across the continent. The funds are now due to be divided between a mixture of local and national charities; Alzheimer’s Society; Julia’s House, the Dorset Children’s Hospice; Weldmar Hospicecare in Dorchester and the Lyme Regis Food Bank. Any leftover funds will go to rotary charities.

A spokesperson for the Rotary Club of Lyme Regis said: "The rotary club are delighted with the amount raised which was in excess of £4000 with bids coming from all over the country and Europe.

Our thanks to all those who generously donated, many of whom were local businesses who, like the charities for which we were collecting, have suffered a great shortfall of funds during this pandemic.

"We in Rotary know it’s not been easy for us or other charities to raise funds during these difficult times .

"A great Rotary effort in these challenging times and thanks to all those that helped us to make this successful event happen – for donations, advertising, website, despatch of goods and of course our successful bidders."

The rotary club has been unable to host its usual major fundraising events throughout the past year as a result of the pandemic. This has left the group short on funds normally distributed to deserving charities. To help boost its fundraising efforts, the rotary club decided to host the online silent auction.