Thirsty guests gathered at the Midland Hotel in Manchester for an Inspiring Women Association cocktail party. Held in Mr Cooper’s House and Garden - Simon Rogan’s second restaurant within the hotel - guests enjoyed a cocktail demonstration from expert flarer and bartender Shane Kilgarriff.

The Association is made up of sponsors, corporate supporters and past winners of the 21-year-old Inspiring Women Awards. Guests enjoyed a ‘Bramble’ to start and then had fun creating three different cocktails. Inspiring Women Awards 2014 sponsors Kate Squire of BBC Radio Manchester and Kate Allen and Jo Phibson from Santander also attended the event.

Inspiring Women Association founder, Jacqueline Hughes-Lundy, from Hale, said: ‘It was a great way of ending dry January and an excellent networking event on behalf of the Inspiring Women Awards.’