A group of 12 men forked out the tidy sum of €10,500 for a few hours of back-breaking work: carrying the statue of the Assumption of Our Lady during the procession of the Mġarr village feast.

A sizeable crowd gathered beneath a niche by the side of the church to witness the auction for the statue bearing, a tradition that was started in 1922, a year after the statue was brought to the village.

When the church bells tolled noon, the crowd hushed as Fr Alwig Deguara, filling in for parish priest Fr Antoine Borg, took the microphone and started proceedings by saying the Angelus prayer. He then asked those who intended to take part in the auction to come forward.

The first bid was for €3,000 but with every second that passed the stakes kept rising by hundreds of euros, until the ceiling was reached at €10,100 with a bid by a “consortium” of men represented by Wistin Vella and Matthew Schembri.

This was greeted with applause and exploding petards, preceeding the procession held in the evening.

“This is our offer to the church. It’s a tradition that goes back many years to the time of our grandfathers and we are honoured to carry on the tradition. Instead of giving money to a charity, we donate it to the church,” Mr Schembri said as he and Mr Vella were congratulated by some of those present.

The tradition has been criticsed by some for mixing religion with commercialism but Fr Alwig dismissed this argument.

“This is an act of generosity and generosity is, after all, a religious sentiment,” he said. “Although the bulk of the money goes towards the upkeep of the parish, some money is also sent to various missions.”The statue was made in Marseille and cost £60 and 16 shillings. Although this year’s winning bid was substantial it did not beat the record set in 2009 when a whopping €12,000 was raised.

Only people who live in Mġarr can take part.