As well as BPW Australia president Marilyn Forsythe, the Maitland branch will welcome Natasha Beyersdorf from NBN Television as their special guest speaker.

Maitland BPW branch president Bente Talseth-Palmer said she looked forward to the night.

“We’re very excited about Saturday night,” she said.

“I can hardly believe the organisation has been running for this long.

“Numbers for the dinner are a little down at the moment but we are hoping that we can get a few more before Saturday.”

Mrs Talseth-Palmer said she hoped that plenty of former members would attend but also welcomed non-members.

“Obviously being around for 60 years we have quite a few past ­members and we’d like as many of them to come as possible,” she said.

“But we’d also encourage new ­people to come along because it is a good way for people to network with each other.

“A lot of people think you have to run or own part of a business [to be a member] but that’s not true.”

Mrs Talseth-Palmer said the ­organisation was especially thrilled ­to have Ms Beyersdorf at the event.

“Natasha Beyersdorf was on the very top of our list, so when we got ­her we were very happy,” she said.

“Hopefully she will tell her story and how she got to where she is because she is a very well-respected woman in the community.”

Guests are asked to arrive at the Blackbird Bakery Cafe at Maitland Gaol on Saturday at 6.30pm for a 6.45pm start.