International Women’s Day

By Sharon Henry

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY (March 8th) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

International Women’s Day has occurred for well over a century, with the first I.W.D. gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today I.W.D. belongs to all groups collectively everywhere.

Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality and fund raise for charities.

We have featured four inspirational women; Alice Herz- Sommer who was the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor and the drama about her life story won an Oscar. Figen Murray OBE who has campaigned to promote kindness and tolerance since her son’s murder at the Manchester Bombing. Sharon Latham who was the first female Premier League club photographer and Lara Besbrode who has built a very successful award winning business during the Covid pandemic.

Alice Herz-Sommer, who was also known as Alice Herz was born in Prague in 1903 and died in 2014.

Alice Herz

By Sharon Henry

She had an extraordinary life as a Jewish classical pianist, music teacher, and super-centenarian who survived Theresienstadt concentration camp.

She came from a Jewish family who were part of the small Germanspeaking minority in Prague and she also spoke Czech.

Her father was a merchant and her mother was associated with wellknown writers. With her two sisters, including a twin sister, Mariana, and two brothers she met writers including Franz Kafka and Franz Werfel, composers including Gustav Mahler, philosophers, and intellectuals such as Sigmund Freud all at her parents cultural salon.

Her formal musical education began at five and she was soon taking piano lessons with Conrad Ansorge, a pupil of Franz Liszt.

After the invasion of Czechoslovakia, most of her family and friends moved to Israel via Romania.

In 1931, Alice had met her husband Leopold Sommer, who was also a musician, they married two weeks later. The couple and their son, Raphael, were sent from Prague in 1943 to a camp in the Czech city of Terezín (Theresienstadt in German) where inmates were allowed to stage concerts in which she frequently starred. She played in more than 100 concerts along with other musicians, for prisoners and guards. This saved her life. She never saw her husband again after he was moved to Auschwitz in 1944, he died of typhoid 6 months before the camp was liberated and many in her extended family and most of the friends she had grown up with were also lost in the Holocaust. In Theresienstadt alone 35,000 prisoners perished.

Alice had said “We had to play because the Red Cross came three times a year. The Germans wanted to show its representatives that the situation of the Jews in Theresienstadt was good. Whenever I knew that I had a concert, I was happy. Music is magic. We performed in the council hall before an audience of 150 old, hopeless, sick and hungry people. They lived for the music. It was like food to them. If they hadn’t come [to hear us], they would have died long before. As we would have.”

She lived for 40 years in Israel, before migrating to London in 1986, where she resided until her death, and at the age of 110 was one of the world’s oldest known Holocaust survivors.

Her extraordinary life was the subject of a short film based on her traumatic life. The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life was honoured at the Oscars in March 2014. Alice who carried on playing every day, unfortunately died a few weeks before the ceremony.

Figen Murray OBE

By Sharon Henry

Figen was born in Istanbul and moved to Germany at the age of 2 in 1963. 23 years later she moved to the UK for a new adventure.

AMother of five children and Grandmother, she now resides in South Manchester with her husband of 27 years, Stuart.

For over 23 years Figen worked as a counsellor and life coach, listening to other peoples troubles.

On the 22nd May 2017, her life would change forever.

Her son, Martyn Hett, was one of the 22 people killed in the devastating Manchester Arena bombing. The shock and heartache felt by Figen’s family was overwhelming. The support they got even from strangers strengthened their faith in humanity. She believed that being angry would only cause more heartache and pain, she decided not to continue her work as a counsellor and has made it her mission to promote peace, kindness, tolerance and a positive change in Martyn’s name.

To help people feel less alone, Figen knits Peace Bears and gives them personalities and back-stories that often relate to mental illness. She has even been given permission to take her knitting needles into the court where the Inquiry regarding the bombing is still ongoing. Figen credits Martyn with helping her gain recognition of her bears – in 2016 his tweets about teddies went viral on social media. Her Depop Shop, Imperfect Hearts, sells knitted bears for people with anxiety, OCD, Schizophrenia and other mental health conditions. Figen believes every adult should own a teddy and she has sold hundreds of them across the world. She also has a book called ‘Bears Have Issues Too’, which shares her knowledge of mental health as a counsellor and her own personal experience. In 2017 she created Jordan Bear in Martyn’s memory and set up a Facebook page dedicated to his travels across the world. Figen originally left Jordan in a paper bag with the message of who he was knitted by, explaining that she wanted people not to keep the bear for more than a few days and then pass him on in order to see how far he could travel… And he did!

Figen visits schools, colleges and conferences to help stop attacks like the Manchester Arena one happening in the future. So far she has spoken to over 14,000 secondary school pupils across England about raising awareness of the extremism behind it. She aims to show young people how they can positively influence and shape their own world by acts of kindness.

She is also the force behind ‘Martyn’s Law’, a legislation requiring entertainment venues to improve security against the threat of terrorism and that all venues in the city have a counter-terrorism plan.

In 2020, she was awarded the Counter Terrorism Award for her efforts in stopping terrorism.

She was very humbled to be recognised for her work in the New Year Honours list and received an OBE.

Also she recently graduated with a Master’s degree in counter-terrorism, another example of her determination to break the cycle of hate and anger which completely changed her and the other families of the victims of the Manchester Bombing.

Sharon Latham

By Sharon Henry

Sharon is a renowned English photographer who has been working independently for over thirty years.

She is best known for her ability to capture the unique visual poetry of live performance - whether that performance is a footballer’s high-flying acrobatics, or a musician’s searing guitar solo.

Sharon has a singular knack for being in the right place at the right time with the right lens. She has been known to slither undetected across a rock concert stage to get the perfect angle. If balancing a camera with a long lens while moving on her elbows between blaring amps and stomping musicians isn’t impressive enough, in 2009 Sharon became the first woman ever to hold the position of official Premier League photographer, when she was hired by the Manchester City Football Club. She documented a succession of iconic moments including trophies in the English Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup. Sharon previously photographed Oasis at Knebworth, Maine road and at the Etihad Stadium, but it was Manchester City where she reconnected with Noel Gallagher.

As a commercial photographer, she demonstrates the same skill, innovation, determination, and ingenuity that distinguishes her work with athletes and musicians. Her iconic images of rock stars, celebrated artists and sports figures have appeared in international magazines, newspapers, and digital media, including several documentaries for Premier League TV, Manchester City TV, and Sky TV.

From covering film festivals and the Oscars, to traveling with a championship football club and touring with a rock band, Sharon’s work has taken her around the world.

She has published three hardback books of photography, two of which captured and celebrated Manchester City’s success as league champions. Her most recent book, Any Road Will Get Us There (If We Don’t Know Where We’re Going) features the concert performances of Noel Gallagher’s High-Flying Birds - as well as rare and intimate glimpses behind-the-scenes - on their 2018 tour through America, Europe, and Japan. Her latest venture with Noel Gallagher is a highly acclaimed and reviewed exhibition ‘A New World Blazing’ images of Noel taken over her 10 years covering him on the road and in the studio.

I had the pleasure of attending the opening night in Manchester and the rooms were full of admiring associates who made it blatantly clear that Sharon is ‘ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS’.

Born in Bolton in 1967, Sharon first picked up a camera when she was 8 years old, after her father, a photo aficionado passed away. As she puts it, “I got his camera and I’ve never not taken photos since then.” Her obsessive love of photography and music, along with her artistic eye, perseverance, skill, and professionalism have led her to a rewarding and distinguished career in the arts. And Sharon Latham is enjoying her moment. As usual, she is in the right place at the right time.

Sharon is happy to make some of her legendary images available - in exclusive, limited numbers only - to people who share her love of art, beauty, music, and photography.

Her most recent photographic exhibition and other work is available www.sharonsprints.com

Truly a lady creating her talent and strength in a Man’s World.

Lara Besbrode

By Sharon Henry

Lara, from South Manchester, lived through the painful process of an international divorce, returning to the UK with three children and the clothes on her back in 2014.

Asingle mother-of-three, Lara has emerged from the divorce as a stronger version of herself and has established her own premium matchmaking service – The Matchmaker UK which launched in the first lockdown of 2020.

Following a successful career spanning three decades in PR and digital marketing, Lara channelled her post-divorce energy to rebuild her life by researching, launching and establishing a remarkable matchmaking business during the pandemic.

Initially an idea that started in Lara’s kitchen, the business has rapidly grown into an elite matchmaking service that boasts an impressive client roster of professional singletons. With her in-house team of professionals, she has built up a solid network of UK and international matchmakers. The Matchmaker UK has managed to swiftly establish itself and collaborates with elite introduction agencies across the UK & globe. She now has offices in South Manchester and in December, her Mayfair offices opened.

Lara completed her International MMI (Matchmaker Institute) Accreditation whilst juggling home schooling and building the new business during 2020/2021, she has also been featured in the Real Housewives of Cheshire’s 2021 series as their Celebrity Matchmaker. She has been on Talk Radio, Local TV News, Editorials and Podcasts discussing dating!

One success story is a couple who were introduced on 1 August 2020, fell in love on the first date, and are planning their engagement for 2022. With their first wedding on the horizon, Lara shows no signs of slowing down.

Lara believes if you’re too busy to date, recently single or waiting to meet that special someone, she has three tips for success. First, she recommends dating outside of your comfort zone and being open to meeting someone outside your type. Next, prepare to go on a journey of self-development. Realise that your past is your past, leave behind the baggage and prepare to open up by being the kind of person you want to attract. Finally, don’t look for an instant connection. That initial spark is simply lust (and not love).

As a self-proclaimed true romantic and busy mum, Lara says it is a challenging profession. She is so passionate about her role as a matchmaker that she’s prepared to go above and beyond to successfully match her clients. She believes that partnering with a matchmaker takes the hurdles out of finding love. With the vetting out of the way, and a team of experts on your side, meeting that person is only a matter of time.

She cannot believe that in 18 months through the Pandemic she changed her career and has now won Boss Business woman of 2021 for the Lifestyle Awards in Liverpool. She is building a more secure future for her children. With her commitment to diversity and inclusivity and a bodypositive approach to matchmaking, she has created a bespoke business out of the ashes of the pandemic.

2022