A 100-YEAR-OLD dancer met the daughter of Captain Sir Tom Moore - after the old soldier inspired her to raise money for the NHS.

Dinkie Flowers has been dancing since she was three, performing professionally while travelling the world for decades.

She was invited to the Women of the Year Awards 2021, which returned this month with a lunch at London's Royal Lancaster Hotel.

The annual ceremony celebrates more than 400 extraordinary women from all areas of society.

The Argus: Dinkie at the Women of the Year Awards.

Dinkie attended the lunch where she met Hannah Ingram-Moore, daughter of Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised almost £33 million for NHS charities and was the inspiration for Dinkie's own NHS fundraising challenge.

Best friend Lesley Tomlinson, who accompanied her, said Dinkie was thrilled to meet Hannah, who recognised her across the room and came over to say hello and take a photo.

Hannah told Dinkie her father would have loved to meet her as they had a lot in common.

ITV newsreader and awards president Julie Etchingham mentioned Dinkie in her opening speech.

She commended her on her NHS fundraising challenge and named her as an example of a woman who "went above and beyond".

Lesley said: "She just had the most incredible time, she loved meeting so many people and she was so happy when Julie spoke about her at the beginning, they even chose her to go up on the screen, she was over the moon.

"People kept coming up to her afterwards and wanted photos with her, she was very confused what all the fuss was about but they were just in awe of her."

The Argus: Dinkie turned 100 years old in May this year.

Dinkie, also a talented ice skater, danced for Prince Philip at a gala in 1952 and performed for the Iraqi royal family.

In recent years she has been teaching dance and keep fit classes from the studio at her home in Shoreham but was forced to stop in the pandemic, which lead her to embark on a fundraising challenge for the NHS.

After her professional career, she founded the Dinkie Flowers Stage School and has been teaching for more than 50 years.

To mark her 100th birthday in May she decided she wanted to give back to the NHS.

She and Lesley, 67, began three 45-minute keep fit sessions and three 20-minute walks a week.

The challenge raised a total of £2,271 for the NHS Charities Together.

Dinkie made her TV debut at the age of 98, tap dancing her way through the auditions to appear on the BBC's The Greatest Dancer.

The Argus: Dinkie has been dancing since she was 3 years old.

On her 100th birthday she said: “Everybody says to me, what would you like to do if you could start all over again?

''I’ve always said this is what I’d do, I wouldn’t change a thing. I love it. I love dancing.

"What the hell does it matter how old I am? I'm still living and I'm still going strong. It doesn't matter whether I'm 30 or 100."

Have you got a story for us? Email news@theargus.co.uk or contact us here.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Sign up to our newsletter to get updates sent straight to your inbox.

You can also call us on 01273 021 400.