WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO MEET a group of inventors it's hard to know what to expect.

As I made my way to the monthly meeting of the Wessex Round Table of Inventors (WRTI) at Solent University, I had two clashing images in my mind.

One was a madcap scientist character like Doc Brown in Back to the Future with crazy white hair, a lab coat and a string of off the wall inventions such as X-ray specs and mind-reading devices.

The other was the contestants from Dragon's Den, sensibly pitching their solutions to life's problems while talking profit margins and projected sales figures.

When I arrived at the meeting I was both relieved and a little disappointed to find that the vast majority, if not all of, the 25 or so people gathered fell very much into the latter category.

A few of them had brought their inventions with them - special hose pipe connectors, a new kind of spanner and rather alarmingly a shotgun holster complete with a gun to demonstrate how it works.

There was also a top-secret project which one of the members wants to get advice on. It's so hush-hush for fear of someone outside stealing the idea that I had to sign a form to say I won't talk about it to anyone else.

Their reasons for attending vary, as do the level of success they've had with their inventions.

Brian Stickley's Talking Labels, which help blind people identify tins, tablets etc, have helped make his Talking Products company an international success. Tonight he was giving a talk about what he's achieved so far, presumably to inspire the other, less successful, inventors gathered.

Kim Weiler, from Milton-on-Sea, who was wielding the shotgun, has also had a certain amount of success.

A keen shooter, she came up with a special kind of holster which allows you to comfortably carry your gun while keeping your hands free.

Her invention, which won her a double gold award at the British Invention Show in October, is on sale both here and in the States.

She came up with the idea of the holster for herself but found that there was so much interest from fellow shooting enthusiasts that she decided to patent it and have it made professionally.

Kim started coming to the WRTI when she won membership and has found it very helpful.

She was even invited to appear on Dragon's Den last spring but decided against it at the last minute because she was concerned that her reception by the Dragons could damage the public perception of blood sports.

Her holster, known as the Scott Holster, has been doing well without the Dragons' help, though she said she's never going to make her fortune from it.

"I made it just to see if it would work," she said.

"I was really pleased people wanted to buy something I'd designed."

While Kim's invention is in the public domain, various veils of secrecy surround some of the other creations that were brought along tonight, with some of those involved hoping to make a mint.

These included Ian Moore, a retired doctor from Chilworth, who is working as an adviser to and partner with 79- year-old inventor Geoff Baker.

Ian has high hopes that Geoff's pipe connector, which has patents pending in most major countries, will make them millionaires.

Geoff isn't so sure though - for one thing, as he declared: "I'm almost 80 - what would I do with the money?".

A retired aeronautical engineer, he seemed more interested in pottering round with his hobby of creating things rather than pursuing it as a serious business.

But Ian is confident that the connector - which would be used to connect pipes such as hoses and which I can confirm is extremely user-friendly - will be on the shelves world wide in six months to two years.

"If it really runs turnover will be measured in millions," he said enthusiastically.

"An inventor offering a licence with exclusivity could expect five per cent of that turnover."

Geoff, who seems like he belongs in a garden shed, pottering round with his creations, and business-orientated Ian seemed like a rather unlikely match but one of the important services the WRTI offers is bringing together people with complementary skills and expertise to turn their inventions into successful business enterprises.

Peter Hebard, one of the WRTI's committee members, says that it is vital for the British economy that more homegrown inventions go on sale in the international market.

His enthusiasm for promoting British inventors was tangible. In fact, the ethos of helpfulness in the meeting is impressive.

The meeting is almost the opposite of Dragon's Den. Members might not be in a position to offer their fellow inventors a wodge of cash to get them going but support, suggestions and advice were pretty free-flowing.

Not that all the advice was necessarily appreciated though.

While suggestions such as where to go for funding were well received, others that suggest the design may be flawed or even pointless didn't go down so well.

Understandably people are protective of their babies' - their creations - and mostly seemed pretty uncomfortable about being on the receiving end of criticism, however constructive it might have been.

Some of the creations that were in the pipeline at WRTI's meeting will undoubtedly fall by the wayside but some of them are already well on their way to success. Who knows, maybe one of tonight's inventors could be one of tomorrow's millionaire entrepreneurs.

But will it be the creator of the special spanner, the pipe connector, or even the top-secret project? Only time will tell.

■ For more information about the Wessex Round Table of Inventors visit: wrti.org.uk