Fifty Susan Boyle fans from nine countries have chipped in to buy one of the Scottish singing sensation's dresses from former Norwich City star Darren Eadie's charity website.

The English handmade silver-grey silk dress has been purchased from the ex-England Under-21 ace's charity auction website, sellebrity.org.uk, for �1,500.

The dress was worn by the Britain's Got Talent success story during a performance in Madrid, Spain, and has now been snapped up by her fans in aid of charity.

Yesterday one of them travelled from Northampton to collect the Suzanne Neville-designed dress from Mr Eadie.

Fans from as far afield as Australia, South Africa, Canada and the USA - as well as Boyle's home country Scotland - pooled resources to buy the dress the singer had donated for the Prince's Trust.

They now plan to keep it on permanent display at the Regal Theatre in Boyle's home town of Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland - where the 20m-record-selling star is a patron.

Local businessman Carl Moore added �5,000 to bring the total presented to the Trust to �6,523, including proceeds from two signed books auctioned along with the dress.

Judith Cooper - a member of the Susan Boyle Fans International web forum - flicked through her photo album at Open in Bank Plain, Norwich, yesterday as she picked up the dress, showing pictures of the fans with Boyle when they meet all over the country in Premier Inns with her for lunch.

Miss Cooper said: 'There was tremendous excitement when the auction was coming to a close.

'We were all sitting there, all around the world, at our computers and it was just fantastic - you could almost hear a cheer going up around the globe. It was lovely to be a part of something international.'

Miss Cooper has been a fan since that famous first audition on Britain's Got Talent, and has met her idol several times since.

She added: 'There was something about her voice, it was clear and beautiful and affected a lot of us.

'When we found out about the auction we thought it would be lovely to raise as much money as we could for a charity that Susan had endorsed, and to have it on display in her home town so everyone could see it.

'As well as her voice what I love about Susan is that she's so down to earth - she hasn't got sucked into the celebrity lifestyle, and she's a great character, very witty and warm.'

The group of fifty fans represent Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland and the USA.

Mr Eadie said he was very impressed by the commitment of the Susan Boyle fans, saying: 'Susan Boyle is a really inspirational figure and we're so pleased that her fans from across the world won the auction so the dress can be there for all her fans to visit.

'It's also great for the Prince's Trust and I'm personally very grateful to Carl (Moore) for adding another �5,000 to the total.'

Oa Mackdonald, of the Prince's Trust, added: 'I would like to thank Susan Boyle for donating her dress to The Prince's Trust.

'The amount raised through auctioning it on Sellebrity will help change young lives at a time when youth unemployment is at record highs.'

- Have you raised funds for charity in an unusual way? Contact reporter Rosa McMahon on 01603 772495 or rosa.mcmahon@archant.co.uk