THE latest Royal visit to Bournemouth brought a major boost for local charity the Fiona Appleyard Appeal.

Hot on the heels of the Queen's highly successful summer visit, The Princess Royal attended a champagne reception at the Highcliff Marriott Hotel.

Guests contributed thousands of pounds to the Daily Echo and Advertiser-backed charity in order to attend the reception and auction, which also featured one of TV's most popular celebrities, Chris Tarrant.

The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter started the auction, which boasted numerous fabulous items including Real Madrid shirts signed by David Beckham and Michael Owen.

And he brought smiles to the faces of Victoria School pupils, one of whom played a practical joke on the popular television star.

Nine-year-old David Young giggled as he presented him with a "cheesy" sandwich, namely slices of bread filled with old socks.

Luckily the youngster regained his composure before presenting Princess Anne with a bouquet.

The auction raised £12,035 and ticket sales £8,000. The lot that raised the most money was a pair of tickets for England's rugby match against Australia at Twickenham, which raised £1,200.

Both the Princess Royal and Chris Tarrant took time to speak to all the guests and one, Mark Wilson, is a fabulous advertisement for the campaign.

Mark, of Lilliput, attended Victoria School from the age of two until he was 16. He then went to college and to university and has recently earned a first class honours degree in computer science.

The appeal, run by the Shaftesbury Society, was named after Bournemouth woman Fiona Appleyard, who died after a long battle with muscular dystrophy.

Her parents, Jean and Richard, and her sister, Rebecca, also attended the reception.

The appeal has already raised more than £1 million to help disabled children and adults across the Bournemouth and Poole areas.

A total of 14 specially-adapted bungalows have been built and an activities and resource centre has been provided at Victoria School.

Independent living flats for 18 disabled adults are currently under construction in Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, and the final phase of the appeal aims to raise the necessary cash to equip them.

Addressing the guests, the Princess Royal praised the hard work that has gone into providing independent living accommodation.

She added: "I have no doubt that the individuals who live there will be extremely grateful for the opportunity that they will have once they move in."

See Thursday's Daily Echo business section for a report and pictures of the Princess Royal's visit to Wimborne company Farrow and Ball.