A TORCH from the 1948 London Olympics got the bidders firing on all cylinders when it went up for auction in Dorchester.

The torch, put up for sale in aid of the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust by fundraiser Larry Skeats, exceeded all expectations to go under the hammer for £5,400.

The torch, which was discovered by Mr Skeats in a box of bric-a-brac at a village auction two years ago, was expected to fetch between £1,000 and £2,000.

Duke’s auctioneer Amy Brenan said Mr Skeats, 75, who has mesothelioma, was delighted with the funds raised for the Dorchester hospice. She said: “It’s a super result and it made more than one which sold about two weeks ago in London.

“Weldmar are absolutely thrilled about it and Mr Skeats was just chuffed to bits.”

Other big sellers on the day included an Italian bronze elephant sculpture, which had been expected to sell for between £2,000 and £4,000 and ended up fetching £50,000.

An oil painting by Robert Hutchinson also went under the hammer at well above the estimate at £19,000.