A WINNER has been crowned in the "Battle of the Piddles" tug-of-war contest between teams from two similarly named Dorset villages.

Organisers said the contest was a great way of bringing communities together.

The villages of Piddlehinton and Piddletrenthide competed in a hotly contested tug-of-war competition at two fetes this summer.

The Hinton Heavers faced the Trenthide Tuggers in a tug-of-war contest at the Piddletrenthide and Plush Fete last month

A decider was contested at the Piddlehinton Village Fete at the weekend.

The Hinton Heavers were the victors at both fetes and were gifted a trophy in the first instalment of the competition, which was revived from years past.

READ MORE: Battle of the Piddles to settle scores between two villages

The Dorset villages of Piddlehinton and Piddletrenthide are about a mile apart on the B3143 and both sit next to the peculiarly-named River Piddle from where their names derive.

In the 1980s, Piddlehinton had a tug-of-war team that took on whoever wanted to challenge them - however the competitions became less frequent in the 1990s.

Local resident Tony Brooker brought back the tug-of-war with a competition between the two villages, which he named the 'Battle of the Piddles'.

Mr Brooker, 59, lives in White Lackington between the two villages and was eager to host an event bringing neighbours of both Piddlehinton and Piddletrenthide together.

Mr Brooker, who also acted as the referee, said: "This originated with bringing both villages together to support each other's fetes.

"Piddletrenthide would always have their fete earlier than Piddlehinton, I said 'why don't we come up with a competition' and the Battle of the Piddles was born.

"We had the first round in June and the Hinton Heavers won that.

"It worked, the Piddletrenthide Fete was up in takings, it is the most successful fete they have had.

"I think it would have been the same here but unfortunately the weather really did affect the numbers.

"The trophy will now be engraved and will sit behind the bar at the Thimble Inn pub."

Two female captains led the two teams, shouting instructions to the other eight people on each team.

Toni Wallace, winning captain of the Hinton Heavers, said: "I am delighted and I have to say it has really brought the village together.

"We have been training once a week, we have a Whatsapp Group and everyone turned up to practices.

"Most of our team didn't really know each other at first but now we are all like teammates."

Michelle Berry, captain of the Trenthide Tuggers, said: "We had a great time and the team is all local community people, it has brought us all together, made new friends, it has been great.

"We lost in a landslide in June but we maintained that we would do it as a community group, stick to the people that we had on the team, we didn't want to switch anyone out.

"It has been great fun, it is supposed to be a community tug-of-war, it is not the Champions League.

"Their captain and I remain good friends, we will all be down the pub later."