‘What makes a remarkable woman?’ was the evening’s discussion in Dronfield Hall Barn on Thursday 25th September when the audience was treated to entertaining and thoughtful contributions from a panel of three guests. Award-winning Derbyshire Scounting leader and maths teacher Morgause Lomas, architect and businesswoman Jillian Mitchell, and veteran volunteer Sybil Naylor BEM were joined in conversation by Dronfield Heritage Trust chair of trustees Louise Third MBE to uncover their life stories, who or what influenced their careers, and how we can inspire a new generation of women to be remarkable in their own ways.
The audience was made up of students from local schools, a few teachers and parents, as well as charity volunteers. During the discussion they were asked to define ‘remarkable’ and the responses included ‘forward-looking, brave, resilient, having respect for yourself, and not having your goals set by others. One student has subsequently felt inspired to run a similar style of debate at her school, and several are intersted in finding out how they might volunteer at Dronfield Hall Barn.
The evening ran in conjunction with an exhibition and publication led by the Dronfield Heritage Trust Research and Archive group. Andrew Turner, researcher and author, has spent over a year gathering the life stories of four remarkable Dronfield woman born in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Over 100 visitos to the exhibition commended the quality of Andy’s work, and book sales have been boyant.
Thanks to the Drone Valley Brewery for sponsoring the exhibition, and to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for underpinning this work through its grant support.
