FRIDAY is International Women's Day.

And to celebrate the occasion, on Saturday, the Secret Joy Club is running a special workshop, where they can learn how to play an instrument and form their own band.

The event is aimed particularly at women and non-binary people (those who don't identify as being one gender or the other), but all are welcome.

The event will be held at Planet Sounds in Southampton and will run from 2pm to 6pm, with a £15 charge per participant.

Tuition will be available from Flis Pitman, of Fly Away Peter, who will be teaching vocals, Kelly Kemp of No Comply, Dear Everyone and Kelly Kemp and the Hippaes, who will be teaching guitar, Harry Partridge of Young Attenborough, Just Blankets and Instant Bin, who will be teaching bass, and Liv Snook of Instant Bin and Threat Level Midnight, who will be teaching drums.

No experience is necessary.

The Secret Joy Club hosts and supports events by women and non-binary people in Southampton, and was launched in December.

For more information, visit https://secretjoyclub.com/events/

A number of other events are taking place in the area to mark International Women's Day, the theme of which this year is 'Balance for Better'.

These include a bring and share dinner on Friday at Woolston Community Centre, with all profits going to Yellow Door Charity, which works to prevent and respond to domestic and sexual abuse.

Tickets are priced £5. For more information, search for International Women's Day Bring and Share on Facebook.

Hampshire Feminists' Collective is also celebrating on Friday with a gig at The Shooting Star pub in Bevois Valley. The line up will feature The Lantern Parade, Clare Canning, Ethereal, Hannah Houghton and Theo Dussek and Lydia Musonic.

Chawton House, in Chawton, which was the home of Jane Austen's brother, Edward Austen Knight, which is now run as a historic property and also houses the research library of The Centre for the Study of Early Women's Writing, is holding curators' tours on Friday.

For this year's International Women’s Day, the house is celebrating the works of Jane Austen, and the women who inspired her. For one day only, they will be bringing out one of the most treasured items in the library collection. The ‘Charles Grandison’ manuscript, written in Austen’s hand, will be on display for all visitors to view.

During the day, there will also be two Curator-led tours of the 2019 exhibition: Jane Austen’s Reading.

The 2019 exhibition at Chawton House will focus on the books that Jane Austen had access to when visiting her brother Edward at Godmersham Park in Kent, many of which are now in Chawton House’s library collection.

For more information, visit https://chawtonhouse.org/