Your Pontypridd were very pleased to attend the International Women's Day event at Pontypridd Museum.

There was excellent attendance at Pontypridd Museum as Pontypridd Town Council Chief Executive Rachel Smith and Town Council Mayor Cllr Sue Presse welcomed everyone to the event followed by an excellent performance by harpist and singer Bethan Nia, who performed two welsh songs and one of her own instrumental compositions.

This was followed by a five minute talk from the Your Pontypridd BID chair Margaret Hughes who spoke powerfully about the importance of fair trade providing valuable and fair income for third world communities and giving great responsibility to women in these communities, helping them to build better lives and create a better standard of living.

Following Maggie's speech, there was a five minute talk from a representative of the Pontypridd Soroptimists. Pontypridd and District Soroptimists hold their meeting at the University of South Wales in Treforest on the first and third Monday of each month at 7.00p,m. (excluding Bank holidays) in the students union building. They have 16 members and anyone who would like to join would be very welcome to come along and see if it’s for them. They start their evening with coffee and biscuits, and go on to have a business meeting or a speaker. The soroptimists talk about a range of topics and support charities all over the world including Woman's Refuge and carry out important work in Bangaladesh. They work hard to help improve the lives of women and girls and try to have fun while doing so.

Jackie Suter representing RCT Women's Aid followed with an excellent talk about the history of women fighting for their beliefs and the foundations which RCT Women's Aid were built upon. RCT Women's Aid provide a gendered understanding of domestic violence and the consequences of gender inequality. They provide an incredibly important service helping women and children affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence with crisis accommodation, they help given them the support in the community and help develop skills and knowledge to help them move forward in their lives.

A second performer from the Graig, Pontypridd performed two songs including 'Accentuate the Positive' and a wonderful rendition of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'

A representative of the charity PONT spoke next and presented images of their important work linking communities in Wales and the Mbale town and district in Uganda. PONT currently have 13 different categories of partnership sharing helping to develop the communities in Mbale putting an emphasis on family, and helping women and children in the district find different schemes to gain an income, and provide for their family as well as building important facilities such as toilets and improving water provision. PONT also discussed two upcoming projects in the region further developing their partnership with the Mbale community and continuing to maintain a special relationship and providing the people with the necessary resources required to improve their quality of life.

The Pontypridd Womens Insitute gave a five minute talk, discussing the history of the Womens Institute in the local area and throughout the world. A story was told about co-founder Adelaide Hunter Hoodless who was behind the drive to pasteurize milk after her 18 month old son died in 1896 from drinking raw milk that was contaminated with the Tuberculosis bacterium. The Pontypridd WI was formed on March 2005. Janet Jones was their first president. They now have 82 members including a president, a secretary and 10 committee members who meet monthly. The Pontypridd WI have a range of activities during the week and meet monthly to discuss a range of issues and invite a guest speaker. To find out more about membership of Pontypridd WI visit https://pontypriddmuseum.cymru/womens-institute/

Curator of Pontypridd Museum Morwenna Lewis gave a very informative and incredible interesting reflection of the history of Suffragettes in Pontypridd. One of the local campaigners was as nationally prominent as Millicent Fawcett and the Pankhurst sisters. Morwenna described the incidents between the suffragettes of Pontypridd and 2000 youth boys who turned up to prevent women from voting. More stories exploring the struggle for female suffrage in the Pontypridd area, up to the 1918 Representation of the People Act can be seen at Pontypridd Museum's exhibition celebrating 100 years of the women's vote. Visit Pontypridd Museum before the 29th of March to see the exhibition.

Suzy Stacy gave a five minute speech representing WASPI - Women Against State Pension Inequality discussing the aim of the WASPI group which is to achieve fair transitional state pension arrangements for all women born in the 1950's affected by the changes to the State Pension Law. Mrs Stacy gave numerous examples of the inequality currently faced by women including herself, losing out on thousands of pounds and encouraged the women present to stand up to the inequality and asked those who would be interested to join the WASPI movement.

RCT Homestart gave a five minute talk on the services they provide, supporting families at times of crises and working in groups to keep families safe and help them access vital services. Homestart support families preventing incidents of loneliness and helping to build self esteem. Homestart help with a range of issues, for more information visit https://www.home-start.org.uk/Pages/Category/things-we-can-help-with

The event concluded with two inspirational speeches, firstly from Cllr Elyn Stephens who discussed the issue of period poverty. Cllr Stephens spoke and reflected upon her own personal issues while growing up, and talking about the impact that it had on her confidence and self esteem, she spoke about her ambitions as Councillor to ensure is addressed in schools, workplaces and to help provide the necessary resources for young women to ensure they are feeling comfortable within themselves. Cllr Stephens is currently spearheading a campaign to ensure that girls get sanitary products for free in secondary schools across RCT. Cllr finished her talk with a clear message, if you're going to start a campaign for change start it tomorrow, because it could be your ideas being celebrated at the next celebration of International Women's Day.

Cllr Jayne Brencher closed the event with a talk celebrating every woman in the room who are so important in making vital changes. Cllr Brencher referred to the sprit of the Valleys Mams, which has empowered the current generation of women, and spoke of her encouragement by the newer generation highlighting Cllr Stephens campaign. Cllr Brencher spoke of how proud she was of her mother and grandmother in how they fought through their hard times to inspire others. Cllr Brencher said that she was leaving proud of the women in Pontypridd and optimistic for the future of women in the town who continue to campaign for change and make a different in peoples lives.