Twelve Kirkby Inner Wheel Club members joined more than 2,000 delegates from clubs around Great Britain and Ireland at the National Conference in Bournemouth.

They met to share, renew and make new friendships and to listen to well-known speakers, including Prue Leith and Ann Widdecombe, and speakers from two charities supported by Inner Wheel — Malcom Wells, of Canine Partners, which trains dogs to do the washing for disabled people and to help them dress, and Dr Paul Whittaker, of Music and the Deaf, a profoundly deaf musician who plays the organ and the piano.

A cheque for £8,000 was presented to Home-Start after £10,000 had been donated earlier in the year. More than £1.5m has been raised this year for a range of good causes.

Already, 18 Kirkby members have booked for next year’s conference in Glasgow.

Kirkby Inner Wheel Club members dressed in jackets they made, and wigs, for the Glitz and Glamour Gala Dinner Evening on the last night of the National Conference in Bournemouth.