Newry Chamber hosted their 6th Annual International Women’s Day Celebration Lunch at a packed Killeavy Castle Estate with over 220 guests on Friday 7th March, kindly sponsored by KPMG Ireland, Southern Regional College and Zen Orthodontics.
The incredible journey of our Keynote Speaker, Sósanna Ní Dhubháin, Composite Lead Engineer at the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team and a native of Rostrevor, deeply resonated with this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, ‘Accelerate Action’.
The vision of Chamber President, Edwina Flynn for this year's event was to acknowledge women in sport and guests also heard from a panel of inspirational local women who are all high achievers, operating within the world of sport.
Our panel on the day included Armagh Ladies Footballing Superstar, Aimee Mackin, Newry All Stars & Special Olympics Athlete, Maeve Robb, CEO of Down Royal Racecourse, Emma Meehan-McCoy and Top Irish Amateur Golfer, Louise Coffey.
Thanks to the generosity of guests in attendance, over £3,500 was also raised through a Charity Raffle for our Charity Partner, Women’s Aid Armagh Down, supporting their vital ELEOS project which their CEO, Eileen Murphy spoke about during a fireside chat at the with MC, Deborah Loughran.
Women’s Aid Armagh Down is not only the Chamber’s Charity Partner for this event, but they will be the focus of our fundraising efforts for the whole of 2025 as they work towards a much needed and purpose-built facility on the Downshire Road, Newry requiring £3 million in funding.
Edwina Flynn, President of Newry Chamber commented:
“As President of Newry Chamber, I am immensely full of gratitude for an afternoon that brought over 200 representatives from the local business community together to celebrate the achievements of women, spark important conversations and, most importantly drive meaningful change.”
“I would sincerely like to thank our Principal Sponsors, KPMG Ireland, Southern Regional College and Zen Orthodontics for their unwavering support of this important annual event. It was also fantastic to hear Marie Farrell, Tax Partner at KPMG Ireland, Lee Campbell, Principal & Chief Executive at SRC and Zeeola Worrall, Practice Manager at Zen Orthodontics talk about all the ways their organisations are helping to support their female workforce at the event.”
Marie Farrell, Tax Partner at KPMG Ireland said:
“We were delighted to support the International Women’s Day event with Newry Chamber again in the magnificent surroundings of Killeavy Castle Estate. At KPMG Ireland, we believe that ensuring women thrive in the workplace is one of the keys to our success now and in the future.”
“Our Connect@KPMG initiative supports women to build their network and leadership skills. This is one important element of our Gender Action Plan which will help us reach our ambition that 50% of all new partner promotions will be women from 2025.”
“We are also passionate about supporting the future generation of female leaders. We continue to support the SistersIn leadership programme, an NI based 8-month development journey for sixth form girls to help build their confidence and broaden their career aspirations. We also support several programmes aimed at support female entrepreneurs in achieving their growth aspirations.”
Lee Campbell, Principal & CEO of Southern Regional College said:
“Southern Regional College were thrilled to be a sponsor of this year’s International Women’s Day event with Newry Chamber, once again, hosted at the magnificent Killeavy Castle Estate.”
“We pride ourselves on providing a range of supports for females including accredited management training and we are extremely proud that SRC’s senior management team has a healthy balance of female and male directors. The College has a range of health and wellbeing resources as well as family friendly policies to support all employees.”
“We continue to deliver a number of Women Returners programmes to encourage and support women back into the world of work, by providing up-to-date skills, mentoring, confidence building and motivational training which are tailored to individual needs.”
“We are committed to targeting females in our promotional campaigns to ensure there is equality of opportunity for everyone across a range of vocational areas and industry sectors.”
Dr Aidan Callan, Principal Orthodontist at Zen Orthodontics added:
“Zen Orthodontics were delighted to be proud sponsors of this year’s International Women’s Day event with Newry Chamber, held at the prestigious Killeavy Castle Estate. Since starting out as a small Orthodontic practice 15 years ago, Dr. Aidan Callanan and his team have worked tirelessly to make it one of Ireland’s most recognised, multi-award-winning clinics.”
“The success of the business has always been its employees and Zen are very fortunate to have 24 outstanding women currently pushing the practice to new and exciting heights with each and every year. The Dental Nursing industry has always been very woman-dominated, so Zen Orthodontics understands the need for supporting and promoting women within their employment.”
“We actively encourage all our female employees to continue their education and development through in-house promotions and further enhancements. We are extremely proud to have given 5 of our dental nurses the opportunity to progress into Orthodontic Therapy over the years, with another nurse hopefully starting a course this June. Additionally, encouraging academic growth is top priority for our practice, having sent our Practice Manager, Zeeola, on to do an MBA.”
“Real change for our female employees has come through sustained effort, genuine conversations and actions that have helped to lead the way for our workforce. Zen has always created a workplace where women can thrive and wellbeing is a priority, producing family friendly policies to support our employees and offering flexible working. We’re so grateful to have a dynamic, creative and dedicated female workforce and are committed to Marching Forward and Accelerating Action together.”
