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Help us raise funds for Eden Valley Hospice at this year’s International Women’s Day

This year Cumbria Chamber of Commerce will be raising much needed funds to support the vital work of Eden Valley Hospice at our International Women’s Day event on Friday 7th March by holding a raffle.

We’re really hoping the Cumbrian business community will dig deep and donate prizes we can include in the raffle – anyone who can help please email Lesley Robinson – lesleyr@cumbriachamber.co.uk

Join us to celebrate International Women's day 2025, on Friday 7th March at The Villa, Levens with informative and empowering sessions, networking, and a panel discussion. The event promises to be an uplifting and empowering day and is open to both women and men.

Our guest speaker is Kelly Cornwell. 

Kelly was the recipient of the Jim Cox Prize (a special award for the ‘most inspirational student’) when she graduated from the University of Cumbria in November 2023. Selected by academics within the Institute of Health, Kelly was chosen after she completed her degree while facing a year like no other. Her husband Kevin, a humanitarian aid worker, was taken captive by the Taliban in January 2023 whilst working in Afghanistan. Two weeks later, Kelly had to undergo emergency surgery, spending five weeks at home in Lancashire recovering from her operation. Once well enough, Kelly began clawing back the 170 placement hours she had missed in addition to the five hundred hours of a final professional placement she had to do to complete her degree. Kevin was released on 10 October 2023, and just weeks after his return to the UK, he was able to see Kelly graduate at Carlisle Cathedral.

Read more about Kelly here

We’ve got the below workshops also being delivered throughout the day.

Macarena Vergara, Coach, Leader-Connect - Freeing our capacities to lead
In this workshop you will get to hear about some of the key barriers and opportunities that women leaders face and you will get to experience at a deeper, interactive level a couple of key neuroplasticity tools that help us liberate our capacities to do the work we came here to do. Because the freer we are from what makes us small, the freer and more impactful we can all be. Just bring your open mind and your willingness to share!

Lina Mookerjee, Director, Praxis PPD - Re-framing Menopause In The Workplace: From Challenge To Opportunity
Often phrased as 'The Change', this workshop's aim is to enable participants to change and consider menopause differently.
Together, in this interactive workshop, we will explore the impact of disparaging menopause myths, beliefs and stereotypes that undermine and challenge women and their abilities. Lina will offer a new paradigm that presents menopause as a healthy change process towards enabling empowerment, growth and wisdom integration. Lina will offer ideas, concepts and practices that she has developed during her 25 years in psychotherapy practice and teaching - and it works!

Caroline Rayner, Knights - Respect in the Workplace
In this interactive session, Caroline will provide an overview of respect in the workplace, looking at the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion, bullying and harassment and the new legal duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, how employers can protect themselves in this context, together with an overview of disability discrimination, with an emphasis on the importance neurodiversity awareness and promoting a neuroinclusive workplace.  Caroline will ask everyone to act ask Employment Judges and vote on real life case examples in this landscape.

We end the day with a panel discussion featuring:

  • Julie Clayton, Chief Executive Officer, Eden Valley Hospice

  • Sue Howorth, Co-Director, The Family Business Community

  • Gina Pennington, Owner and Director, Penningtons Tea & Coffee Ltd

  • Mark Ebdon, Factory General Manager, Pladis

  • Julie Mennell, Vice Chancellor, University of Cumbria

Member ticket - £65 +VAT

Member ticket and exhibition space - £105 +VAT

Non member ticket - £85 +VAT

Non member ticket and exhibition space - £140 +VAT

Book here (price includes a two course sit down lunch and scones served in the afternoon)

There is also still opportunity to sponsor the event - £375 +VAT gives you 1 free ticket and exhibition space. Anyone interested please email Lesley Robinson - lesleyr@cumbriachamber.co.uk 

Thanks to our current sponsors Knights and The Villa, Levens.