ORGANISERS of the Dorset Seafood Festival celebrated another successful year as they handed over a bumper amount of cash to a cause supporting fishermen.

The £6,000 handed over to the Fishermen’s Mission this year means to date the festival, known as Seafeast, has raised almost £90,000 for the charity.

The organisation is the only fishermen’s charity that provides emergency support alongside practical, financial, spiritual, and emotional care for all fishermen, active or retired, and their families.

Fishing continues to be the most dangerous peacetime job in the UK so organisers say funds raised for the cause are vital.

More than 8,000 people attended the two-day festival on the Weymouth peninsula last month, watching chef demos, devouring delicious local seafood, sampled the delights of Miraval, Badger Beer and English sparkling wine, as well as learning about responsibly sourced seafood and ocean health.

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The festival's ‘Fish Auction’ is integral in raising vital funds

Duncan Lucas hosted the Fish Auction with enthusiastic passion and was instrumental in drumming up contributions to the charity.

Wine company Miraval had two unique jeroboams designed with a custom illustration on each bottle especially for the festival. A jeroboam contains the equivalent of four standard bottles of wine.

These were auctioned off and the two lucky winners made big contributions to the fund. Tim Underwood from Berkshire, who travelled to the festival by boat with his wife, had a winning bid of £335. Richard Beggs from Weymouth was the other highest bidder on the Sunday, his bid was for £280. Richard, who went to school in Weymouth and had a catering career in London before finally retiring back to the Dorset coast, said he looking forward to taking his jeroboam to The Crab House Café to enjoy as the sun sets.

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Stuart Cooper, Festival Director said: “At the heart of the Dorset Seafood Festival has always been The Fishermen’s Mission and we are delighted to present the charity with another cheque to help fund the all important work the incredible team do. We would like to pass on huge thanks to everyone involved in helping us deliver another great event this year."

Dean Lawrence, Corporate Partnerships Manager at The Fishermen’s Mission, added: “The support we have received through the festival is very humbling, it’s not just the incredible funds raised but the awareness it creates for the Charity and the fishing industry as a whole, we are very fortunate to have such strong friends in the festival organisers, stall holders and visitors."

The winners of this year’s Festival Sustainability Awards, judged by Sam Fanshawe from Blue Marine Foundation and Nigel Bloxham, chef/proprietor of The Crab House, were:

Joint Gold: Catch at The Old Fish Market and Dorset Shellfish

Joint Silver: Sally's Fish Camp and Katie's Cornish Hot Pots

Joint Bronze: Brancaster Bay Shellfish and Thyme & Tide

Highly Commended: Idelica