Superwomen to inspire at fundraiser
By Simon Newsam
Superwoman, the South Wales businesswomen’s fundraising network, is back for its fifth annual event on October 15th featuring three of Wales’s own Superwomen, each with an inspirational tale to tell.
Rosie Swale Pope made headlines for several years when in 20003, on her 57th birthday, she set off from her home in Tenby to run around the world, on her own and with virtually no budget. Fifty-three pairs of shoes later, she made it back to Tenby in one piece and with plans for more challenges ahead.
Morfudd Richards, from Criccieth, worked at some of the top London restaurants including The Ivy, Le Caprice and Harvey’s before opening her own restaurant in Islington called Lola’s. In 2004 she bought a tatty ice cream van called Mr Frosty, gave it a psychedelic make-over and re-named Lola’s on Ice.
Now the van gets to go to all sorts of swanky parties like Jamie Oliver’s birthday party and serves home made ice cream with quirky flavours like gin and tonic sorbet. Morfudd will talk about some of the journeys she and her van have made.
Suzi Hunt worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs in London but decided life was too short to spend it with a load of bankers so she retrained as a florist, moved to Cardiff and opened Pontcanna florist Flowers with a Twist. Suzi will talk about making the big leap from employee of a big business to owner of a small one and the challenges facing women setting up their own business.
Organiser Bethan Darwin, of Darwin Gray Solicitors, said: “I’m delighted with the speakers for this year’s event. Each of these three women has a truly fascinating tale to tell and will leave a good positive feeling in the minds of the audience.
“The fact that Superwoman is still going strong and people are prepared to give something to those who need help despite the current economic climate is something we should all be proud of.”
The evening, which is sponsored by Pitman Training Cardiff and Debt Divas, is also an excellent networking opportunity for business women from across South Wales. It will be held on Thursday 15th October from 5.30pm – 8.30pm at the Copthorne Hotel, in Cardiff, which is hosting it free of charge.
The cost will be £35 per person and, thanks to all the Superwoman sponsors, every penny of every ticket sold will go directly to one of the chosen charities.
They are Valleys Kids (www.valleyskids.org), a charity working with disadvantaged children and families in the South Wales Valleys, and Kitezh Children’s Community (www.kitezh.org) in Russia, an eco-village community that provides an education and a home for orphaned children. It is one of the places that Rosie visited on her epic journey and she still continues to raise money for them.
As usual, there will be a goodie bag with a variety of Superwoman gifts donated by businesses across South Wales, but this year there is a new element. In keeping with the theme of the evening – women making changes, taking up challenges and doing whatever they’ve always wanted to do – Julia Zorab, licensed Springboard and Spring Forward trainer, will lead a workshop to help women identify the changes they want to make and produce a plan to achieve those goals.
Finally, there will be a drinks reception and a chance to network with other South Wales businesswomen.
For further information on the event, please call Sam Ashby or Denice Cummings-Jones on (029) 20829100 or email them at sashby@darwingray.com. For tickets, cheques should sent to Darwin Gray Solicitors, 15 Windsor Place, Cardiff CF10 3BY but the organisers ask that cheques should be made directly to one of the charities (or split the cost between the two of them with two separate cheques). This will ensure that gift aid can be claimed wherever possible.
Tags: Bethan Darwin, Darwin Gray Solicitors, Debt Divas, Julia Zorab, Kitezh Children’s Community, Morfudd Richards, Pitman Training Cardiff, Rosie Swale Pope, South Wales businesswomen, Superwoman, Suzi Hunt, Valleys Kids
