A team of Slimming World consultants will start the new year buoyed by words of support from pop star Peter Andre.

The Mysterious Girl Singer was the guest of honour for the organisation’s annual awards night, which was staged in Birmingham.

Toni Heal, Julie Sinden and Tracey Open, who run weight loss classes in and around Maidstone, met with him following the ceremony.

Toni said: “I’m so proud of all of our members. They’ve lost fantastic amounts of weight throughout 2014, with many of them reaching their target weights and improving their health substantially.

“Now we feel powered up and can’t wait to help our members hold on to all of the fabulous changes they’ve made and to support even more people to become happier and healthier in 2015.”

Mr Andre said: “At the awards I met lots of people who’ve lost incredible amounts of weight and it has completely transformed their lives – and their families’ lives too.

“They’re eating more healthily and being more active, and so are their families.

“And every single one of them told me that they couldn’t have made those changes without the support of their Slimming World group and their Consultant, so the people who run the groups are clearly very important.”