THREE inspirational women helped to mark Porlock’s recent Ada Lovelace Women’s Afternoon Tea held annually in the village hall.

Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, who lived for a time in Porlock, became the world’s first computer programmer in the 1840s at a time when women were actively discouraged from scientific study.

Ada understood, long before anybody else, that machines could be more than calculating engines.

She imagined possibility where others saw limits.

It is that spirit of vision in the face of constraint that continues to inspire, and that thread ran strongly through the words of the afternoon’s speakers, introduced and guided by compere Lynn Pearson.

Montessori Global Education chief executive Karen Chetwynd spoke of learning as something lived, not dictated.

Her career, spanning dance, teacher training, curriculum design, and now global leadership, reflects her belief that education is an act of empowerment.

“Follow the child,” she urged, acknowledging the work of HomeStart’s Hayley Williams, whose support for families in West Somerset continues to shape futures at their earliest stage.

Louise Butcher shared her short documentary ‘Topless – A Run to Redefine Femininity’.

After losing both breasts to cancer, Louise chose visibility over silence.

Running topless became her defiant declaration, that women’s bodies need not conform to be worthy, powerful, or whole.

Where no role model existed, she became one.

Jo Smith, now headteacher of Danesfield Middle School, in Williton, spoke of authenticity, courage, and the responsibility of leadership.

As the school’s first female head in more than a decade, she hoped to build a culture where children learn not just to achieve, but to believe in themselves.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: “The afternoon was sustained, as always, by the quiet dedication of the Porlock community, whose care, service, and generosity embody the very theme of the event, women lifting one another up.”