Dame Stephanie Shirley recently enlightened a Women4Welfare audience. John Fisher reports.
When Dame Stephanie Shirley came to write her memoir Let IT Go, her publishers were perplexed. Was it the story of a refugee or was it about a woman who set up a high-tech company in the 1960s?
Was it the tale of a mother of a severely autistic child or as an ardent philanthropist?
“In fact I’m all of these,” Dame Steve, as she prefers to be known, told a Women4Welfare audience.
She retired in 1993 and became a national ambassador for philanthropy, donating most of her accrued wealth.
“The pleasure that one gets from giving money, time, raising money from others and building up awareness is so important – and that is open to us all, at any time and at any age.”