OVER 00 people joined an evening of eating, drinking, dancing and singing at the Wine, Women and Song event to celebrate International Women’s Day on Wednesday, March 8 at The Sundial theatre in Cirencester.

The evening was part of the Cirencester Abbey 900 festival.

Guests were treated to cheese, wine and beer samples, free cupcakes and a range of quiches, dips, crackers and snacks to accompany wine made by women winemakers and beer from Cirencester's Corinium Ales brewer Lucy Cordrey.

The celebration cake, which was included in the raffle in aid of MS Society, was made by Anita Barret.

There were also generous donations from rekindle, Not Just Bouquets, Auntie Caroline’s Pickles, Majestic Cirencester, Lorna Stevens from Big Yellow Marketing and Corinium Ales which boosted the raffle ticket sales to £265.

This together with collecting tins and their portion of ticket sales means the MS Society received £400 from the evening.

The entertainment ranged from Bollywood, Egyptian and Morris dancing to beautiful medleys from women singer songwriters Alison Hustwitt and Lisbee Stainton,the stunning voices of Poperasops, the sultry sax and voice of Patsy Gamble and the incredible Stream of Sound youth choir whose a capella numbers entranced the audience.

A powerful rendition of the song “Bread and Roses” with everyone joining in remembered and celebrated the struggle for women workers’ rights and acknowledged the International Women’s Day theme of #BeBoldfor Change.

Michael castle as MC kept the show moving along with style and humour. A small army of volunteers from Abbey 900 and Orchestrated by ClearWorth managed tickets, parking, catering and the clearing up.

Clive Hook from Orchestrated by ClearWorth said: “A massive thank you to everyone for putting Cirencester on the map for this event as part of not only Abbey 900 but the global International Women’s Day celebrations.”

Corinne Lamus from Abbey 900 added: “We’re so pleased and proud of the efforts and contribution from the people of Cirencester who made this possible and made the Abbey 900 festival come alive in such a unique way. We’re looking forward to our next events when we sing Mozart’s Requiem on April 15th and celebrate St. George’s day on April 23.”