IT WAS fayre play as good causes celebrated sharing a £20,000 windfall from a Weymouth festival.

The sixth Fayre in the Square organised by the Rotary Club of Weymouth was another huge success over the late May bank holiday weekend.

Held in Hope Square and along the harbourside, the free to attend fayre is a two-day festival of live music, food, craft and entertainment stalls.

In the true spirit of Rotary, money raised benefits local charities and organisations – and this year £20,000 was distributed.

At a presentation evening held at Pilgrim House in Hope Square, Rotarians presented cheques to more than 25 grateful recipients ranging from youth groups, sports clubs, public space and heritage projects and those helping disabled members of the community.

This year’s Fayre In The Square Chairman, Joe Swindell, said he was ‘overwhelmed’ with the amount of money that the event had raised in just two days.

He said: “It just goes to show what can be done by only a handful of people when they put their minds to it. This is what the Rotary Club is all about for me – people getting together to make a difference for our town.

"Our club is going from strength to strength and continually attracting new members to come and join us.

"These new members in turn bring new ideas and new skills and that is why the fayre keeps going and getting better and better year on year.”

Planning has already started for next year’s event, which the Rotarians hope will be even more successful than this years.

Mr Swindell said: “We’ve set ourselves a huge target now. £20,000 in one weekend is a phenomenal amount to raise for charities but we’ve got a great team that really know what they are doing and, with continued fresh ideas coming in, I have no doubt that the fayre will continue to grow and be able to contribute even more to those in our town that need and deserve our help next year.”

The Rotary Club of Weymouth meets at various locations around the town on Monday evenings and welcomes enquiries from anyone interested in joining.