Winthrop will be marking International Women’s Day with an event at Wickersley Community Centre, 286 Bawtry Road, Wickersley S66 1JJ (Community Room under the Library) on Friday 8th March between 3.30pm and 5.30pm.
Tickets for this event, available from Winthrop, are £10.00 and include refreshments – hot drinks and homemade cake!
The theme for this event is ‘Women of Steel’ in the 20th and 21st centuries and guest speakers will share women’s stories from around the world.
Hear from Michelle Rawlins, an author and researcher who has published a social history book on South Yorkshire’s ‘Women’ of Steel’ as well as a number of novels centred on this period. Michelle will also have some of her books on sale and be available to sign copies.
“We must never forget the sacrifices made by women across South Yorkshire to work long and intensive hours in the Sheffield steel works during World War One and Two,” Michelle said. “Without them our Allied troops would not have had the munitions and parts for aircrafts, tanks and machinery, they needed. These women responded to a call for duty without a second thought, often putting their own lives at risk. It is an honour to keep their memories alive.”
She will be joined by Linda McAvan OBE, who represented South Yorkshire in the European Parliament from 1998 until 2019. Amongst her many responsibilities she chaired the Committee on Development and in this role that she visited Ethiopia and came across The Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa. Since, she has raised thousands of pounds with the support of South Yorkshire women to help and support their work.
International Women’s Day gives women in the UK the opportunity show solidarity with women across the world. Many live in poverty and with health issues similar to ones we experience, but without the supportive arms of a welfare state and our NHS.
So, the chosen charity for this event will be ‘Chameleon Buddies’, a grassroots charity set up in 2022 by founder Gill Castle who has a permanent stoma following childbirth complications in 2011. This charity supports women in the UK who have undergone the life-altering change of a stoma following childbirth or surgery. Many of you will recall Gill’s heroic cross channel swim – the first person to swim the channel with a stoma.
Recently the charity has extended its support to women in Eldoret in Kenya who have had stoma surgery due to a condition known as a fistula. These women who often don’t have access to stoma supplies or the support of a trained stoma nurse.
All proceeds from this event, after costs, will go Chameleon Buddies. If you can’t attend but would still like to donate see www.justgiving.com/page/anna-chester-1706641851804.