A LUNCHEON club who were left in the lurch days before their party had the event saved by The Argus.

The Food and Friendship club’s 100 elderly guests were left without a drag queen, red carpet, and linen table covers when their events organiser had to pull out the last minute.

But following an appeal in Saturday’s Argus, wedding store Fabricate rolled out the red carpet, the George Payne pub donated their finest linen, and Linda Bacardi stepped up in her very high heels to make the club’s fourth birthday bash a success.

Organiser Caroline Henderson said: “A massive thank you to the readers of The Argus. Because of the piece in the paper, we were flooded with offers of help.

“Out of a bad situation we have had some great interest in our group and it’s shown me that people are naturally kind and want to help. Our members do not get to dress up and go to a posh-do very often and it was absolutely perfect, so thank you.”

The event took place yesterday at lunchtime and guests were treated to live entertainment, delicious food and drink, and birthday cake.

Entertaining the 100-strong-crowd and 20-plus volunteers was drag queen Linda Bacardi, who offered her services after reading Saturday’s story.

Party guest Sylvia Wood, 86, said: “We’ve never had anything like that before. It was certainly eye-opening seeing her up there in her high heels. Everyone is so wonderful to us and look after us. It’s real friendship.”

The club meets on Tuesdays, has 27 volunteers, and provides a meal for more than 60 older isolated people each week.

Attendees often arrive by a special bus and are charged £4 to keep the luncheon club running.

Rachel Richards, 50, works as a community worker at Hove Methodist Church and is a lunch club volunteer.

She said: “It has gone amazingly and thanks to The Argus for their coverage when the even organiser pulled out. It’s a real feel-good story.”