In the morning, ‘IWD: #PressforProgress’ will take place. Organised by Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce, this prestigious event aims to raise issues central to career development for females, and to provide the opportunity for people to share experiences in a supportive environment. There will also be time to debate the International Women’s Day theme ‘#PressforProgress’, and to consider working ambitions and aspirations, and barriers that can be encountered along the way.

The keynote speaker will be Georgie Bullen, a Paralympian Goalball player who represented Team GB at London 2012. After competing in London, Georgie faced difficulty finding employment due to being visually impaired, which encouraged her to set up her own business, Team Insight, to raise awareness.

This year's event is following on from the success of the 2017 day, which attracted an audience of over 140 business people and young people.

Following ‘IWD: #PressforProgress’, there will then be a special tour of the Cathedral to mark International Women's Day. Led by Cathedral guides, these tours will celebrate some of the prominent women whose lives have been memorialised in the Cathedral, but whose stories are often left untold.

Guests will be able to hear about the Saxon princesses of the Cathedral, such as St Kyneburgha, who rose to prominence in the seventh century as a member of Peterborough Abbey’s founding family. She founded a convent upon the death of her husband, and was revered as a saint by the monks of the Abbey after her death – a Cathedral Chapel is dedicated to her name today.

The tour will also examine the lives of Margaret Gibson – Schoolmistress at Laurel Court School (which used to be in the grounds of the Cathedral) – and her student Edith Cavell, a WWI nurse shot by a German firing squad for helping over 200 injured soldiers from either side of the war effort without discrimination.

This tour is the first events in Peterborough Cathedral’s ‘Unsung Heroes’ series, which will also include events in May (‘Movers and Shakers’) and November (‘War and Peace’) – a long-overdue celebration of some truly remarkable people.

IWD: #PressforProgress is taking place from 9.30am to 12.30pm. The cost of the event is as follows:

• £20.00 (plus VAT) for Chamber members

• £27.00 (plus VAT) for non-Chamber members.

Guests can book in two ways:

• Chamber members can book online at http://www.cambridgeshirechamber.co.uk/

• Non-Chamber members can call 01733 370809 or email h.bosett@cambscci.co.uk.

Unsung Heroes – International Women’s Day Tour will take place at 2pm and tickets are £8 (£6 for concessions).

[There will no longer be a tour at 7.00pm]

Tickets can be booked by calling Peterborough Information Centre on 01733 452336, or via this link.