65 of Greater Anglia’s female workforce and their allies were inspired by an event in celebration of International Women’s Day.

The event, which was held at Chelmsford’s Civic Centre, saw Sarah Swanston (Greater Anglia’s Right Time Railway Manager, East) share the story of her 34-year career on the railway. During Sarah’s career, she has held roles such as carriage cleaner, driver, and customer service manager.

Gemma Browne (Head of Fleet Operations in the Greater Anglia control room) was also featured in a presentation about her varied career outside of the railway and how to tackle imposter syndrome.

The day included sessions on the menopause and its various symptoms, as well as Greater Anglia’s colleague network groups Affinity (around sexuality) and Ability (focusing on disability and carers).

The women’s network group UP! was also relaunched with the whole ethos focusing on empowering women within the company to be able to take that next step in progressing their career.

Pawani Mudalige, who is the chair of the UP! group and works in the ticket office at Stansted Airport station, said: “The whole purpose of the UP! group is to be a supportive voice to women in Greater Anglia and the event was a shining example of that, with lots of stories shared and networking opportunities taking place throughout the day.”

Katy Bucknell, Greater Anglia’s HR Director, said: “The International Women’s Day event was a great way to celebrate the power of the wide array of skills, perspectives and qualities that each of our women bring to work every day.

“People make our business, and I really felt the warmth of support for everyone within the room with a determination to make us an even better place to work going forward.”

A special Life on Rails Greater Anglia podcast was also released to mark the day, with contributions from freight driver Bessie Matthews and Greater Anglia’s own Senior Internal Communications Manager Karen McCann.