A WOMEN'S group enjoyed a double celebration with a royal award and a landmark anniversary.

Soroptomist International Bournemouth received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service (QVAS) from The Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, as well as celebrating the club's 80th birthday.

The organisation was honoured with the QAVS - the nation’s highest award for exceptional voluntary service and the equivalent of an MBE - in recognition of its successful development of the STEM Challenge (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) for girls in local schools.

Joint presidents, Catherine Beal and Liz Dominey, on behalf of the club, received a signed certificate and an English Crystal with the QAVS logo insignia from the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Angus Campbell, who made the presentation on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen.

The STEM challenge has been running since 2013 and encourages girls to challenge stereotypes and seek careers involving science, technology, engineering and maths which will be beneficial to the future of UK PLC.

The challenge involves small teams of girls in years eight and nine working on a project of their choosing that has the potential to help people in the poorest parts of the world. 2018 Winners presented their winning projects and are students from St Peters School, Southbourne and Ringwood School.

Members of the global organisation from as far away as Australia attended the anniversary celebrations, ahead of Bournemouth hosting the SI Great Britain and Ireland Federation conference next year, which 1,200 soroptimists are expected to attend.

Joint president Liz Dominey said: “We have had a wonderful weekend of celebration of our 80th anniversary and receiving the QAVS with friends from all over the world. This has inspired us to work even harder to help those women and girls less fortunate than ourselves."