MEMBERS of the Marlborough Floral Club took advantage of a packed meeting with a national speaker to raise money for the Prospect Hospice at Wroughton.

They raised £256 when Margaret Fairhurst, one of the country's top speakers and demonstrators, gave a talk at Mildenhall Village Hall on flower arranging.

Gillian Richardson from the hospice's fund raising office went along to the floral club's annual general meeting to receive the money from retiring chairman Phyllis Broadway.

At the meeting it was announced the club has been invited to put on a display at the Chelsea Flower Show next year.

The club is a member of the National Association of Flower Arranging Societies which each year runs a ballot to see who will represent it at the Chelsea Show.

Club secretary Ruth Hodgson said: "We have been entered in the ballot for the past four years and we are delighted that finally the Marlborough club has been chosen.

The club now has to decide which two of its members will have the task of designing and building the entry for the prestigious show.

New members are welcome at meetings held on the first Thursday of the month, at 2pm at Mildenhall Village Hall.