Dynamite day out for high-fliers

Rap star Ms Dynamite is one of more than 400 women whose achievements are being honoured today at the 48th annual Women of the Year lunch and award ceremony in London.

She has been outspoken about the tragedies caused by gun crime, and wrote a powerful poem that she read at a memorial to two girls who were shot dead in Birmingham this summer. It called on black people to "start loving instead of killing each other".

The R&B singer from Camden was joined at the Savoy Hotel by other highprofile women including Pop Idol judge Nicki Chapman, Adrian Mole creator Sue Townsend, who is losing her sight due to diabetes, and actress Maureen Lipman.

The event also recognised lesser-known achievers including Birdie McDonald, 62, from Wembley, who has fostered more than 700 children, and philanthropist businesswoman Charlotte di Vita, 36, from Fulham, whose multi-million-pound foundation, Trade Plus Aid, helps developing countries through ethical trade policies.

Also at the ceremony were pensioner Marguerite Garden, who as a teenager in Second World War France joined the Resistance and helped hundreds of Allied servicemen escape to Britain, and Major Nadine Heron, who was chief of Basra police in post-war Iraq.

The Women of the Year Lunch and Assembly was created in 1955 to celebrate the achievements of women in every field of work.