Hive of activity for women’s day
Events a huge success that exceeded expectations
Slough Borough Council (SBC) held two free events in the town to mark International Women’s Day on Friday (March 8).
From 3.30pm to 7pm, Salt Hill Activity Centre was a hive of activity with arts and crafts, stalls and much more available for people to enjoy.
The event was organised by the council’s Community & Detached Youth Work Team and was led by senior youth and community detached youth worker at the council Stacie Armand and CDT team manager Tony Rawlings.
More than 1,100 people came to the event and enjoyed access to bowling, VR, soft play and trampolining facilities at the centre.
Face painting and henna art were also on offer and an arts and crafts room provided a venue for people to make Mother’s Day cards, colour in, draw and be creative.
The room also featured an exhibition of the work young people have made during sessions with the Community & Detached Youth Work Team in the lead up to International
Women’s Day.
Attendees also got to enjoy a games area, and a raffle also took place with prizes donated by local businesses and organisations.
Hot and cold food as well as cold drinks, teas and coffees were available for all.
The event featured stalls from local services, including Thames Valley Police, Slough Outreach, Together as One and Ways into Work.
Women from around the area took centre stage to give talks about their roles and their journey to achieving them in a bid to encourage, empower and inspire women in Slough to aim high and believe they can.
Speakers included Bep Dhaliwal, founder of Thrive 365; Donna Briggs, head of service early help at Slough Children First; Meera Javed of Brahma Kumaris; and Neha Lakhanpaul, director at the Strawberry Group.
Stacie said: “The event was a huge success with the number of attendees exceeding our expectations.
“It was amazing to see so many women/girls come together from so many different backgrounds and communities.
“The atmosphere was amazing and seeing families enjoy quality time together was magical.
“We were overwhelmed by the generosity, kindness and support shown by local businesses.
“We had 20 young girls aging from 9-15 volunteer at the event (they all attend projects the CDT run); we are super proud of how well they done.”
Meanwhile over at The Curve, another event took place earlier in the day, which saw women from around the area attend to speak on various subjects and share inspirational and empowering stories and messages of hope for the future.
The event, which took place from 10am to 12.30pm was a partnership between the council, Safer Slough Partnership, NHS Frimley, Slough CVS and Asian Star Radio.
The Office of the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner part-funded the event.
Some of the speakers at the event included Tessa Lindfield, director of public health Berkshire East, Superintendent Helen Kenny, LPA commander for Slough, Sbba Siddique from Asian Star Radio and Dr Lalitha Iyer, chief medical officer at NHS Frimley.