Members of Ipswich Building Society have been invited to attend its annual general meeting on March 26 at Wherstead Park, Ipswich.

The society has reported an “excellent” year in 2013, both in growing its capital base and achieving a healthy level of profit.

More details will be revealed at the meeting.

The guest speaker for the evening is Dame Stephanie Shirley, who is listed in the BBC Woman’s Hour Top 100 most powerful women in Britain.

Dame Shirley will tell the tale of how she arrived in Britain, alone, and aged five years in 1939, through to creating a globalIT business.

Her focus now is philanthrophy. In 1962 she started a software company, the FI Group, and early in her career used the name Steve within a male-dominated business world.

She gave job opportunities to other women, and only employed women until the Sex Discrimination Act came in in 1975.

She retired in 1993, having sold her business, and supports a number of causes including autism charities.

www.steveshirley.co.uk