WOMEN from all over the country will unite in Newcastle this weekend.
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Members of the Shirley Club will be in town for the club's annual convention, which will be hosted in Newcastle for the first time. There is only one way you can join the exclusive club - you must have Shirley in your name.
"A lot of us are named after Shirley Temple and, strangely enough, Anne is a very common middle name," Mayfield's Shirley Appleyard said.
"We actually have one member who is called Shirley Shirley."
The club started in Western Australia in 1996 and its motto is "fun, friendship and food".
The club serves as a social group for women, most of whom are retired.
"Most of us are a bit older because Shirley is a name that just never really came back around," Maitland's Shirley Palmer said.
The Hunter branch of the Shirley Club joked that organising this year's convention was like hosting the Olympics, and the events had been funded through raffles and cake stalls.
There are about 1000 members of the Shirley Club across Australia, and Hunter branch co-ordinator Shirley Campbell expects about 100 Shirleys to "invade" the city this weekend.
"We've been planning this for 18 months now and it's exciting to finally be here. We have a weekend full of surprises planned and there will be a lot of laughter."
The Hunter Shirley Club will host the convention at Newcastle's Travel Lodge from September 12 to 14.