East Anglia Women in Business celebrate International Women's Day with an event at Downham Market

Women from across East Anglia celebrated International Women's Day with a special event at Downham Town Hall.

Groups from across the East Anglian Women in Business (EAWIB) network attended the event yesterday in what was their first opportunity to get together under the same roof. More than 70 representatives came from Downham, Fakenham, Lynn, Swaffham, Dereham and Ely.

Sarah Fairbrother, EAWIB founder and a director and family law solicitor at Ward Gethin Archer, gave an introductory speech which included a brief introduction on EAWIB and what motivated her to start the networking group.

Sarah created EAWIB to provide a local forum where business women can meet, interact and support each other in developing their businesses and careers. She recognised that outside of Cambridge and Norwich there were very few networking opportunities in the local smaller towns.

The event was officially opened by Downham Mayor Becky Hayes.

Rania Kurdi, actress, presenter, motivational speaker and transformational life coach, was one of two key speakers to address the gathering.

She spoke about the importance of mindfulness, how the mind can hold people back and gave examples of how to overcome this.

The other speaker was Josephine Reynolds, Britain’s first female firefighter. Josephine talked about her training and her experience during her career. She joined Norfolk Fire Service when she was 17, and has written a book called Fire Woman.

Afterwards Sarah Fairbrother thanked the Mayor and the two speakers for their informative and entertaining talks.

EAWIB provides a platform for local business women to meet and share their knowledge and expertise. The monthly meetings are held from 10.30am-noon and are free to attend with refreshments kindly provided by sponsors, Ward Gethin Archer solicitors and Grow Your Business East Anglia accountants. To find out more see http://eawib.co.uk/