Get ready for another unforgettable International Women’s Day extravaganza!

We’re thrilled that our annual lunch once again will be held at the fabulous Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst and will be buzzing with excitement!

Brace yourself for enlightening and inspirational speakers, as we celebrate this year’s theme: Accelerate Action.

Focusing on the need to Accelerate Action emphasizes the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.

We are delighted to welcome Louise Atkinson as our keynote speaker.

Louise sits on the Executive Committee of the UK’s second largest Defence Company and leads the Global People Strategy across a workforce of 25,000 globally. As an operator and business leader, she is passionate about creating a workplace where employees feel valued, engaged, and motivated to contribute their best work.

In addition to her professional role, Louise is a dedicated advocate for women supporting women. She believes in the power of shared purpose and connection and devotes much of her time to cultivating communities where women can come together in safe spaces to be honest, vulnerable and real.

For the last two years, Louise has worked to harness the magic of these communities driven by one vision – every woman has an incredible story to tell. Stories that may seem commonplace and unremarkable on the surface; Louise has flipped the narrative to demonstrate that these every day stories are what make all women extraordinary.

Louise launched Project Sunlight in 2022 – working with women from all walks of life to tell their stories, in their own words. Project Sunlight was created to celebrate these women, support others in sharing their own stories, and serves as the inspiration behind Her Voice – a copy of which we will be given to each person attending the Lunch.

Together, we will celebrate the achievements of local women in business, raise awareness about discrimination, break barriers and take action to drive gender parity in the New Forest!

You can look forward to networking over drinks and canapés on arrival, followed by a delicious two course lunch and a charity raffle.

This business lunch leaves plenty of time for discussion and networking. Come along to find out what other women in business are doing in 2025 and celebrate their achievements together on International Women’s Day!

As with all NFBP events, this event is open to everyone and is a not-for-profit celebration and supports the New Forest Brilliance in Business Awards Charity of the Year, Oakhaven Hospice.

This event has been kindly sponsored by our Headline Sponsor, Parker Bullen LLP.