The 100 pigs which have brightened up the streets of Bath have all now been gathered in ahead of a charity auction at the end of this month.

The popular sculptures which celebrate the city's legendary founder King Bladud have been admired, pictured, climbed on - and occasionally vandalised - over the summer.

Now the six-month public arts project has come to an end and its organisers are hoping to raise a six-figure sum for a new cyclepath.

Bidding ahead of the auction on October 31 has been far from brisk, with many of the pigs yet to receive an offer.

Project organisers are hoping the sponsors who paid for the distinctive pigs to be sculpted and decorated will want to buy them for permanent display in their premises.

Each pig has a reserve price of £1,250, with the highest amount so far bid being £1,850 for Disco Pig, which had been placed in Queen Square.

Project founder and former councillor Gitte Dawson said: "Everyone's telling me how empty it is without pigs to raise a smile."

The pigs are now being cleaned up by a team of artists in the project workshop in preparation for a farewell party in Royal Victoria Park on the weekend of October 18 and 19.

The event billed as for all the family which runs from 10am to 5pm on both days will put all 100 pigs on display in one place for the first and last time.

Tickets are being sold available for the auction on Friday October 31 at 6.30pm at the Assembly Rooms where the pigs will be up for sale. Admission is by pre-booked ticket only.

Auction tickets are £30, which includes the cost of a reception and a catalogue, and are available from the website www.kingbladudspigs.org.

A bidder registration form needs to be completed for every ticket, after which tickets will be issued with a paddle number for bidding on the night.

Online bidding goes on until the night with the two highest bidders on any pig being offered the opportunity to join in the bidding on the night by phone. There will also be the chance to put in a proxy bid.

Mrs Dawson said: "We have had a huge amount of interest already and expect the tickets to go really quickly."

Money raised at the auction will go to the Two Tunnels Project, which will create a new cycleway and footpath through old rail tunnels to the south of the city.