THIRSTY cider drinkers in Dorchester have helped to raise around £3,500 for good causes.

The Dorchester Round Table organised the second Dorchester Cider Festival in the town’s Borough Gardens and has hailed the event as a great success.

The gardens were the final destination for the march through Dorchester in support of services at Dorset County Hospital and after a series of speeches singer songwriter Billy Bragg officially opened the Cider Festival.

The event featured cider producers from all over Dorset, with more than 80 varites on offer.

There was also a range of live music across two stages with local singer Danny Adams getting proceedings underway.

Other performances included the Jimmy Hillbillies, with their ‘chicken train’ conga line proving a highlight for the main stage audience.

Other acts strutting their stuff included Dorset Wrecks, The Darwins, Blazing Strings, Lee Ames. Carlos Heath, Chris Roberts, Jack Humphries and Irish rockers Neck.

Visitor numbers peaked at an estimated 2,500, with festival goers drinking from re-usable cups to keep the park tidy that had been provided by sponsorship from Dorchester’s Brewhouse and Kitchen.

Dorchester Round Table chairman Lee Turner said: "Dorchester Round Table would like to thank everyone for attending and creating an enjoyable, safe and family friendly atmosphere, which our members enjoyed being a part of as much as our guests tell us they did.

“It’s our second year of running this event and we’re pleased with how well this year’s festival additions were received.

“We’ll be debriefing this week and inviting feedback from our visitors so that we can try to make Dorchester Cider Festival 2017 even better."

The Round Table said it would also like to congratulate Steve Frampton from Dorchester and Kay Baker from Shaftesbury on their Cider Festival engagement.

Steve, with the help of the Jimmy Hillbillies, got down on one knee on the main stage to propose and Kay said yes.

To find out how the money raised is distributed and about future events visit the Dorchester Round Tables Facebook page.

The Round Table is looking for new members to join them and will be holding open recruitment evenings in the coming months to increase the team size in an effort to build on the success of this year’s events for the town.

You can find out more on the Facebook page.