As if any excuse were needed to celebrate the brilliant women from within our county, it’s both International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8, and, a week later, Mother’s Day. We take a look at the brilliant work of the Soroptimists here in Kent, celebrate some wonderful mothers and hear about the women fictional, historical and very much still alive who constantly inspire us
It’s a big year for Soroptimist International Tunbridge Wells & District club, which in 2026 marks eight decades of service to women and girls locally, nationally and internationally.
Explains past president and regional representative Caroline Auckland: ‘Our particular club was founded here in Tunbridge Wells in 1946, shortly after World War II, initially to support refugees by providing food, clothing and shelter. Over the decades, SITWD has raised funds for three housing projects for elderly women, established a social club for older people, refurbished a local women’s refuge and supported children through befriending schemes, parenting initiatives and programmes designed to build confidence and self-esteem in young girls.’
SITWD is part of Soroptimist International, a global voluntary women’s organisation with the motto ‘Educate. Empower. Enable.’ Soroptimist International has nearly 66,000 members in 121 countries, while Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) represents more than 5,000 members across over 250 clubs in 20 countries.
President Jill Ruddock says: ‘While some believe gender equality has been achieved, the reality is very different. Women are still marginalised, disadvantaged, ignored or made to feel vulnerable. We are committed to lobbying and campaigning to ensure this changes.’
Within Soroptimist South East England, there are 11 clubs across Kent and Sussex, along with two school clubs. In Kent, there are clubs at Bromley, Canterbury, Folkestone, Medway & Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Whitstable, plus there’s a Kent College School Club working with the next generation.
Says Caroline: ‘Today, SITWD continues to translate this global mission into practical local action. Members from diverse backgrounds work together through community projects, partnerships, fundraising, awareness-raising and advocacy to improve the lives of women and girls. Recent work in Tunbridge Wells includes the club’s Spotlight on Safety in Tunbridge Wells report and close collaboration with former MP Greg Clark on the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023. This work is continuing with his successor, Mike Martin MP. The Act is due to come into force on April 1, as set out in the Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
‘SITWD also takes part in the annual Reclaim the Night Walk and, in 2022, helped ensure Tunbridge Wells became a Toilet Twinned Town through aluminium can recycling [using the proceeds from 400kg of recycled cans to support international clean water projects]. The club regularly supports women through the micro financing project, Lend with Care. Membership offers friendship, fun and the opportunity to be part of a global movement creating lasting change. The club meets on the third Monday evening of each month in Tunbridge Wells, so if you’d like to join us in our 80th year, get in touch. Any of the clubs based in Kent would welcome new members too.’
Making a different in the county, the country and beyond…
Soroptimist International is proud to celebrate the women across Kent whose leadership, service and advocacy continue to improve the lives of women and girls locally and globally. Here are just three of them:
A past pioneer
Muriel Bury Wells (1890-1953) was a founder member and former president of Soroptimist International of Tunbridge Wells & District. In 1949, Muriel became the first female Mayor of the Borough of Tunbridge Wells, serving two terms. During the Second World War, she was district head of the Tunbridge Wells Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS).
Muriel chaired a number of committees, including education and health bodies, served as chair of governors for the County Grammar School for Girls, was president of the Tunbridge Wells branch of the Royal College of Nursing, and held office in the Women’s Gas Federation.
Recently, the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society installed a plaque at her former home in recognition of her contribution to public life.
Soroptimist leaders today
Lorna Blackmore, a member of Soroptimist International of Tunbridge Wells & District and past regional president, currently serves as membership officer at both club and regional level. She’s been selected by Soroptimist International to represent Great Britain and Ireland as a delegate at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York this March.
Dr Roxanne M St Clair DBA BA PSM FRSA is an award-winning author and leadership specialist who wears many ‘hats’, including as president of Soroptimist International South East England Region and chair of the Commonwealth Girls Education Fund.
Her governance experience also includes senior trustee and treasurer roles with the Mary Seacole Trust, where she also project-managed the delivery of the Mary Seacole memorial statue, remembering the life of this extraordinary woman, an outstanding nurse during the Crimean War, a businesswoman, humanitarian and the author of the first self-penned (rather than dictated) autobiography by a black woman to be published in the UK.
The incoming president of Soroptimist International South East England Region, Keji Moses, is a member of Canterbury Soroptimists and currently serves as Lord Mayor of Canterbury and a Canterbury city councillor. She is also founder and CEO of Mayah’s Legacy, a charity created to help women feel heard, respected, and in control of their healthcare. Her trustee roles include Ethnic Minorities in Canterbury (EMIC), chair of governors at St John Church of England Primary School and Canterbury & District Food Bank.
Woman to woman
A Tunbridge Wells Soroptimist Caroline Auckland on her favourite female words of wisdom. ‘Eleanor Roosevelt, a key architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, once said: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,” and she urged action with the words: “Do one thing every day that scares you”.’
Mother knows best
Why we’ll always look up to our very first care-givers
Katie Daniels-Curtis on Jenny Lucas
Digital creator and local mum to three boys, Katie Daniels-Curtis (perhaps better recognised by her Instagram handle @mykentlife) is based in the Kent countryside. She creates content revolving around motherhood and family life in the county, sharing the places and spaces she and her children love exploring and visiting together. Family, says Katie, is at the heart of everything she does, largely due to the brilliant example her mother set.
‘The woman who inspires me most is my mum, Jenny Lucas,’ Katie says. ‘She had a hugely successful golfing career, winning numerous titles and competing at the highest level in a time when women’s sport wasn’t widely recognised [Jenny was in fact the inaugural winner of the Women’s British Open in 1976 at Fulford Golf Club, York].
‘Beyond her achievements, it’s her quiet strength, humility, and ability to move confidently through different chapters of life that have influenced me the most.’
Bethany Wylie on Dawn Potter
Kent-based photographer Bethany Wylie (bethanygracephotographs.com) specialises in capturing dreamy, ethereal images of local families, people, and animals that possess a fairytale quality, allowing them to treasure these moments forever.
Her work sparks conversation and celebrates the special bond between loved ones and their pets.
It resonates with audiences, inspiring them to make the most of every moment.
When it comes to the woman who empowered and galvanised her, Bethany’s thoughts immediately turn to her mum, Dawn Potter.
‘She just makes things happen, for anyone and anything.
‘When you think there’s no chance of something happening or you make a wish, she’s on it!
‘From last-minute concert tickets you think are sold out, to bigger logistical photography prop issues, she makes me very aware that anything is possible and to never give up!’
Siobhan Stirling on Valerie Stirling
Siobhan Stirling is managing director of Sharp Minds Communications and has won awards for supporting other businesses and in empowering women in the workplace. When it comes to inspirational women, she says of her mother: ‘While I know many brilliant women across Kent who provide me with invaluable support for all different kinds of issues, the best advice has always come from my mother, Valerie, who is – and always has been – the wisest woman I have ever known. She has given me so much invaluable advice over the years. Top of the list is: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”. That sits really well alongside the mantras that my father, Jeremy, drummed into me: “Always present a solution, not a problem”. But putting that into my mother’s wider context made me realise from an early age that if you watch problems passively and don’t try to find a solution to them, you are endorsing that problem. Whether it’s ignoring bullying, walking past litter, not taking proactive steps to mitigate our climate crisis… it applies across all walks of life.
‘I’m the first person to ask someone sitting in their car with the engine running whether they could think about the consequences and turn their engine off. Normally people are happy to do so, but sometimes it doesn’t go down well! I believe that we have a collective responsibility to help shape the society, environment and future that we want for ourselves and the next generations.’
Kent Mum’s Circle
Four mums, from all corners of Kent and different walks of life, united to create a space for local parents. Together, Aimèe, Kimberley, Frankie and Emma form the group of women who run the Kent Mum’s Circle on Instagram (@kentmumscircle). Content creator Aimèe says she couldn’t ask for better people to help her run the page: ‘They’re an amazing support network,’ she says. ‘In the last six years, we’ve been through the loss of a little one, divorce, grieving lost loved ones, births, kids starting school, redundancies and celebrating achievements together. Instagram connected us, and while I don’t know where life will take us, I know they’ll always be only a message away.
‘Kim started a photography business from scratch while raising her boy, before welcoming her little rainbow baby. Emma’s an incredible human who raises her twins with her wife, advocating for same-sex marriage. Frankie also launched a photography business and has been the backbone of this page while rearing her three children and working on top of it all. Individually, they all inspire me to keep striving at work and being the best mummy. Motherhood is a superpower, and without a support system, we couldn’t do it all.’
WOMEN OF HISTORY AND FICTION
The continuing impact of those from the past and on the page…
Vikki Rimmer on Frances Heron Maxwell
Writer Vikki has a special interest in our local gardens. She says: ‘I’ve spent the last seven years uncovering stories of the suffragists who lived at Great Comp Garden, near Sevenoaks, during the turn of the 20th century.
‘These formidable women were led by Frances Heron Maxwell, known as “Max” to her friends, who set up the Kent Land Army, the Kent WI, laid out her own cricket Oval at Great Comp and welcomed the women’s Australian team for their own “Ashes” in 1937. A keen hockey player, she played in goal for The Pilgrims – a Kent team based near Wrotham. Max sadly breathed her last in June 1955 while on a chair lift in Berne in Switzerland – she was climbing the mountain to see her beloved gentians [alpine flowers].
‘Max brought Eva McClaren to Great Comp to live too. Eva was a prominent suffragist, her name is on the Millicent Fawcett plinth in Parliament Square. Together they helped changed the course of women’s rights in the UK.’
Kate McCaffrey on Anne Boleyn
Kate is a historian who has uncovered so much over the last few years about Anne Boleyn, her Book of Hours and more.
She has co-curated (with Dr Owen Emmerson and Alison Palmer) the brand new exhibition Capturing A Queen: The Image of Anne Boleyn which runs at Hever Castle until January 1, 2027. Kate says: ‘Working at Hever Castle – the place that shaped Anne’s childhood, witnessed personal and political scandal, and became the cradle of her legacy – has allowed me to see Anne not only through words and portraits, but also through the walls and windows she once knew. Our relationship with her has changed as we’ve peeled back the layers of often-competing traditions to understand how and why they formed.
‘Each generation has remade her in its own image, but perhaps none so intensely as ours, in this moment of reassessment and rediscovery. The project I’m working on with Dr Owen Emmerson and Alison Palmer at Hever reminds us that Anne’s story is not only about what survives, but about the gaps – the absences that others have filled with imagination and expectation. The search for her true face is, in the end, a search for connection: an attempt to reach across centuries toward a woman whose life continues to fascinate, challenge, and inspire.’
Sophie Price on Bridget Jones
Content creator and blogger Sophie Price is a Tunbridge Wells-based mum of two, who co-hosts The Katie Price Show podcast with her sister, covering a plethora of topics and sharing personal stories. Sophie’s social media followers gain regular glimpses into her home life via @sophie_pricey, TikTok, and blog, where she shares useful tips on mental health, motherhood, and more.
One woman who has always and continues to inspire her, is Helen Fielding’s fictional heroine, Bridget Jones. ‘Bridget Jones is refreshingly imperfect, honest, and unapologetically herself,’ Sophie says. ‘She represents a kind of womanhood that feels real: navigating love, work, friendships and self-doubt with humour and heart, without ever pretending to have it all figured out.
‘I think she’s been quietly powerful for so many women, showing that you don’t need to be polished or perfect to be worthy, successful, or loved.’
And a very real inspirational woman of today:
Jodi Eeles on Abby Wincel
Jodi Eeles, co-founder of Maidstone LitFest, tells us she’s been inspired by Abby Wincel since first meeting her in 2023. Explains Jodi: ‘I met Abby through a mutual contact after Abby was looking for a venue to host a Valentine’s lunch for elderly, isolated residents in Maidstone.
‘Abby had founded a charity called Wishing Hearts in 2021 aged just 20, with a mission to combat loneliness in older people. She started granting wishes for elderly people in Maidstone, to provide long-lasting, special memories to the people who need it most. This could range from a trip to the cinema with a companion, to listening to someone play the piano over lunch. I helped Abby to host the first lunch (we had our fourth this Valentine’s Day) and was bowled over by her ambition and drive at such a young age.
‘I was inspired by her big heart and care of those who came along for the lunch. I was even more gobsmacked to find out that she was doing all of this while studying for a master’s degree in care and working too. She is full of energy and drive and it’s a pleasure to be in her company.
‘Wishing Hearts has gone from strength to strength across the years and it has been a real pleasure to follow her journey. Maidstone is a kinder place with people such as Abby giving their time to those in need to combat loneliness.’.
