GUESTS at an annual literary event hosted by Darlington Soroptimists have raised hundreds of pounds for charity.

The Literary Lunch, held at Headlam Hall Hotel, saw more than 100 people gather, including Neerja Bajaj and Renu Bhardwaj from the Soroptimist club of Pune Metro East, in India, who are visiting England for the Federation Conference.

The speaker at the event was Lucy Adlington of the History Wardrobe, who spoke on the subject of Ladies of a Certain Age, looking at older female characters in Jane Austen novels.

The event raised a total of £658, which will go to Toilet Twinning, a charity that raises funds to enable people living in poor communities to have clean water, a decent toilet, and to learn about hygiene with the aim to prevent the spread of disease, reduce the number of deaths among children and to bring hope for the future.

To find out more about toilet twinning, which costs £60 donation to twin your toilet at home, work, school or church with a latrine in any of ten countries from Afghanistan to Zambia, visit toilettwinning.org