Julie's great girlie gala

Julie Hampshire who runs Girlie Gatherings - an organisation to help women gain in confidence - has been given a £9,000 grant to stage the first Great Girlie Gala in Clifton Park, on Saturday, March 12.

There will be around 50 stalls offering therapies, business advice - plus a display from burlesque dancers.

Ms Hampshire said she was delighted to receive the grant. 

She said: “Pleased is not the word. I am absolutely ecstatic.”

Entry to the event - which will also celebrate International Women’s Day - will be free of charge from 10am until 4pm, with a sponsored firewalk at 6pm.

Ms Hampshire runs Girlie Gatherings across the borough aimed at all women, regardless of age, marital status or employment.

She has been running them for four years and gained the interest of 200 women from Rotherham and Doncaster.

Ms Hampshire, of Brampton Bierlow, said: “Over the course of four years I have met so many women. It’s about face-to-face meetings, but it’s also about spreading the word.”

Ms Hampshire started the organisation after the father of her then 10-year-old son Jack died suddenly and she was forced “to practise what she preached.”

She said: “I had already been delivering life coaching to adults but was particularly good at working with women and helping them to better balance the different areas of their lives.

“When Dave died I needed to create a business that would let me be there for Jack, enable me to earn a living and also allow me to remain strong and focused on the positives myself.   

“It’s been a real struggle and I worked to earn money while Jack was at school and eventually started putting on Girlie Gatherings in the evenings. 

“I would take Jack along so we were still together. He’d sit at the back with his earphones in.”

Ms Hampshire said the Girlie Gatherings concept is new and is about making life coaching accessible and affordable to all women.

She said she had met five other women who had become directors and partners of the business, which was registered as a social enterprise last June. 

Ms Hampshire said: “We hold face-to-face meetings which include a life coaching session and a showcase from a visiting professional.”  

The next Girlie Gathering is at Wickersley Library on February 22, from 7-9pm. Attendance costs £5 per person and places can be booked via the Eventbrite website. 

People can also find out more about Girlie Gatherings at www.greatgirliegala.co.uk.