Fifty young professionals socialised and swapped business cards over sushi and cocktails at the launch of the Skirt Network, a UJIA networking group for women, at the Arts Club in Mayfair on Sunday. They also heard from Debbie Moore, founder of the Pineapple dance studios.

Ms Moore recalled being the first woman to float a business on the London Stock Exchange and dropped names from Princess Diana to Madonna and Mick Jagger. Asked what she had learned from her business career, she replied: “The impossible takes a bit longer.” She donated an extra prize to the raffle — a year’s Pineapple membership.

Telegraph women’s editor Emma Barnett is chairing the Skirt Network. She said the reason for creating the group was that “after Israel tour and the Young UJIA events, there was a bit of a gap in the UJIA stable before you’re at that age of going to ladies’ lunches”.

The evening raised £4,000 for educational work in the Galil.