Business Mentoring at Berg Manchester

For the second of our Business Mentoring events, Pink Shoe Club was hosted by Alison Loveday, managing partner of Berg – the imaginative law firm.

Una McBride welcomed guests on behalf of Pink Shoe to a mentoring Masterclass and reception at Berg's central Manchester offices. The Berg team looked after guests brilliantly and could not have made everyone feel more welcome.

The class itself was engaging and absorbing, which is exactly what we've come to expect from Dinah Bennett OBE, a ‘pracademic’ and co-founder of ICE, the International Consultancy for Entrepreneurship & Enterprise.

Huge thanks to all at Berg and especially Beverly Reilly.

Out and about in London and Liverpool

Pink Shoe members get invited to all sorts of fabulous events and places. 


Of late amongst these lovely invitations we’ve been lucky to be at the unveiling of the statue to Kitty Wilkinson.

Pink Shoe Summer Diary

Pink Shoe Club takes a well-deserved rest from events during August, with just a couple of intimate member-only happenings. But when we're not on holiday somewhere amazing, we still find time to pop along to a couple of special parties hosted by our friends.

Summer Garden Party

Huge thanks to Julia & Peter Bowles for their marvellous summer garden party in stunning Stanley Gardens in Notting Hill, in aid of Save the Children and organised by Julia and her family.

The weather was kind to us as we wandered through the beautiful trees and flowers, supped pink Champagne and enjoyed lots of nibbles and scrummy mini fairy cakes made by the talented and lovely Hetty.

The evening was a success all around as £1000 was raised for the charity, so thank you also to PSC members for your generous donations, which contributed to this total.

WPO at BAFTA

An interesting evening was hosted by UPS and WPO at BAFTA in Piccadilly, as Helene Martin Gee was invited by uber entrepreneur Deb Leary, founder of Forensic Pathways and President of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs.

After a fascinating insight into logistics for London 2012 from Cindy Miller, MD of UPS UK, we heard a detailed presentation on the history and aims of the WPO from founder Marsha Firestone, and insights from various London chapter members; then each of us introduced ourselves to the group.

Deb was as welcoming and lively as ever, and there were lots of wonderful business women present. After formalities there was time to mingle over Pol Roger and canapés in the stunning BAFA rooms, meeting new people and catching up with contacts, as well as enjoying the displays featuring different aspects of the Olympics.

Pink Shoes on the Terrace

In wonderful summer sunshine Pink Shoe members were hosted by Jill Pay and Helene Martin Gee on the terrace of the House of Lords for our annual Pimms luncheon.

Members swapped summer holiday tales and plans, and we all talked excitedly about the memorable London 2012 which exceeded all expectations.

PSC Patron Tessa Sanderson covered the whole games for Jamaican TV and promises to tell us more, and we can’t wait to hear from member Vanda Green who is a volunteer at the Paralympics.

Helene announced some of the Club’s exciting plans for the autumn, as well as the formation of the Pink Shoe Senate which is to be chaired by Jill Pay, thus strengthening the group’s ongoing strategy and of course its links to Parliament. Helene also called for final nominations for the Pink Shoe Icon Awards, as the closing date is fast approaching.

Members were joined by the latest Pink Protege, Annabelle Miles, a recent Politics graduate who will be supporting PSC as an Intern alongside her work with St Mungo’s charity.

Over lunch we shared lots of business ideas and opportunities, enjoying animated conversation and a lovely afternoon watching the riverboats go by.

Many thanks to Edyta, Anna, the chefs and terrace team for a super lunch and for looking after us so well.

Pink Shoe Summer Reception at the House of Commons

We were delighted to be hosted by Anne Marie Morris MP, for a relaxing summer reception

Entrepreneurs, professionals, international business people and politicians mingled on a splendid summer evening. Anne Marie gave a warm welcome to guests and said how important it was to see so many successful women and men networking to help drive business forward.

Helene Martin Gee thanked the MP for so charmingly hosting the event - especially as she had injured her arm in a disagreement with a photocopier!

She praised Anne Marie's vital work in supporting and promoting UK enterprise, especially SMEs and micro businesses.

Helene thanked everyone for attending and was especially glad to see such a great mix of longstanding friends and those attending a first event.

She gave a special welcome to new members Antonella Ragona and Sandra Roycroft-Davis, and much praise to Sheila and Olivia for all their hard work.



As ever at Pink Shoe events we were very well catered for, with a stupendous seasonal buffet perfectly accompanied by Pimms and Prosecco, as well as local elderflower and Kentish apple juice.

A well-deserved round of applause went to Vida & Mustapha for serving us the lovely food & drinks.





Another highly congenial evening was enjoyed by all - a fitting end to the busy summer season before heading off for the holidays.


Images by Olivia St-Clair Bloomfield.

Pink Shoe Club Hosts Oman Delegation

A private tour of the Palace of Westminster was arranged for a distinguished group of delegates from Oman, including the First Minister from the Embassy of Oman in London. On behalf of Diane Shawe, who accompanied the group.

Before meeting with Anne Marie Morris MP, Helene Martin Gee, former Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay, and Pink Shoe members, delegates enjoyed a visit to both Chambers, including hearing the Shadow Foreign Secretary in a debate in the House of Commons.

They also paid a visit to the Royal Gallery, then to the Peers Guest's Gallery of the House of Lords, and went on to join guests in the Jubilee Room. 

Pink Shoe joins Addidi for Inspiration Awards

Pink Shoe members were thrilled to be invited by Anna & Janardan Sofat to join Addidi for their Inspiration Awards at Home House. This is definitely one of the highlights of the summer season, as Addidi hosts this glittering annual event where inspiring women of today celebrate women achievers from history.

Firstly we heard from Anna about Addidi – her ground-breaking wealth management company, especially focused on women, and about angel investment opportunities and the Addidi Pioneers.

On to the award itself, the focus this year was on women entrepreneurs. We heard five enthusiastic presentations on whom we should vote for. All the entrepreneurs from history were women who had made an impact on fashion, not just from the design perspective but also with financial success, as fashion is and has for many years been a key contributor to the economy.

Julia Grinham, co-founder of the fabulous Upper Street Shoes, opened the event and championed Margaret Cameron, a milliner designer & corset maker –to prove her point Julia wore a super sexy corset!

Then Fashion Designer Angele Delanghe was marvellously brought to life by her champion Courtney Blackman, Founder & MD, of Forward PR and MD of The Industry.

Our third presentation was about Anna Maria Garthwaite Designer, of Spitalfields Silks and championed by Fiona Cruickshank OBE, Director at SCM Pharma. We loved hearing about Anna Maria!

And finally we heard from Sarah McVittie, Co-founder of Dressipi, who spoke eloquently about Fashion Designer Lady Duff Gordon, Lucy Christiana.

As the evening drew to a close after five fabulous presentations from-and for- five fabulous women we wanted to vote for them all! However we were delighted to hear that the final winner was Margaret Cameron, thanks to Julia Grinham.  We also thought that Anna and Addidi should have an award for creating such a splendid event!