A community group in Weymouth is celebrating a 'brilliant' start to the year as a first fundraising event of 2018 is a success.

The Friends of Radipole Park and Gardens hosted a table-top sale at the Radipole United Reformed Church hall to raise funds to go towards a new sensory garden. 

Group member Sue Hogben said: "We were really chuffed with it. Loads of people attended and there were queues for the bacon butties.

"I think in the end we raised just over £350. It's a brilliant start to the year – we are on a real high."

The money will go towards an overall target of £10,000 to build a sensory garden in the park. 

"It will be easy access for people of all ages to enjoy," Sue said. "We're planning to get the project started around October or November time.

We set ourselves a pretty big target but so far I think we've raised just over £6,000 so we are well on our way."

The group recently got through the first phase of a Heritage Lottery Fund bid which approved a £78,000 development grant. 

As part of the bid, the group now have to host an event every month of the year. 

The group decided to kick off January with a table-top sale and Sue said committee members agreed it was the busiest sale they've ever had. 

"Of course there were a lot of individual sellers who rented tables but a lot of people brought stuff in to sell - I was piling it up behind the tables," Sue said. 

She added not only did the event successfully raise funds but they also managed to sign up more volunteers.

"We have two more volunteers add their names to the list so I guess the day had more than one benefit. It raises our profile as well," she said. 

Next month, the friends will be hosting a pruning demonstration so people can learn how to prune and maintain fruit trees. 

The event will be open to everyone and Sue said a date had not yet been set but people interested in coming along should keep an eye on the website radipoleparkandgardensfriends.wordpress.com.