International Women's Day this year saw the Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead Soroptimists team up with two other clubs to stage a themed conference on the subject of 'opportunities for women and girls'.

The event was held in Maidenhead Town Hall and members of Thames Valley and High Wycombe Soroptimist clubs joined the Slough and Royal Borough team to run things on Sunday, March 17.

The Soroptimists are a global women's volunteer movement.

Speakers at the Maidenhead conference included Detective Chief Inspector Penny MacKenzie from Thames Valley Police who spoke on issues facing women in the Thames Valley.

Hannah Little, fundraising and marketing officer for Womankind Worldwide spoke on its work as a global women’s rights organisation working to improve women’s lives. While from a younger generation two schoolgirls from the Slough Youth Parliament, Alaa Fawaz and Raakhi Sharma gave their take on youth input to politics.

The mayor of Slough Cllr Paul Sohal and deputy mayor of the Royal Borough Cllr Colin Rayner came along. While a number of organisations who had stands included the Kori Project which works to support women and girls in Sierre Leone, the domestic abuse charity DASH, Slough Fostering and Womankind Worldwide.

A raffle was held in aid of the Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland Emergency Disaster Fund and raised £200.40p.

Jackie Paling, the organiser of the event, said: “I am so pleased it went very well, as it has been a lot of hard work. The speakers were inspiring and the two schoolgirls were so enthusiastic about their place in politics. The event provided networking opportunities. We are already thinking about what to do for next year.”