The 2026 lunch

We are delighted to announce that the 2026 Women of Achievement Lunch in Scotland will take place on Tuesday 10th November 2026.

Due to ongoing renovations at Archers' Hall, Merchants Hall in Edinburgh has kindly offered to host us this year.

Following the success of our 2025 lunch, at which we raised £24,000 for Smart Works Scotland, we are very much looking forward to another memorable event.

The lunch is by invitation only and further details will follow in due course.

Lunch details

Alexandra Tolstoy image_edited_edited_ed

Alexandra Tolstoy: Explorer, author, broadcaster, entrepreneur

Our 2026 Speaker

We are thrilled to be welcoming Alexandra Tolstoy to speak at the 2026 Women of Achievement Lunch in Scotland.

Alexandra is an explorer, author, broadcaster and entrepreneur whose life has been shaped by travel to some of the most remote parts of the world.

At 25, she set out on an extraordinary nine-month expedition along the ancient Silk Road, travelling 5,000 miles by horse and camel from Turkmenistan to China. The journey became her first book, The Last Secrets of the Silk Road.

Her passion for travelling on horseback and for traditional cultures led to the BBC television series ‘Horse People with Alexandra Tolstoy’, in which she travelled the world exploring communities whose lives still revolve around horses.

Alexandra has spent more than 25 years travelling in Kyrgyzstan and is an official Ambassador for the country. She now runs Alexandra Tolstoy Travel, taking small groups on riding expeditions through the remote Tien Shan mountains. Most recently, she made Beyond the Silk Road, a documentary filmed in Kyrgyzstan with actors Dominic West and Clarke Peters.

Our 2026 charity

We are so pleased to be supporting the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, as our 2026 charity.

The Centre brings together leading researchers from across Scotland to accelerate the development of new treatments, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for patients both now and in the future.

Through collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to advancing clinical trials, their work represents a meaningful step forward in an area where it is urgently needed.

See charity

Dame Prue Leith and Fettes College piper, Maillie Maclean

The 2025 lunch

The 2025 Women of Achievement Lunch in Scotland raised £12,000 for our chosen charity Smart Works. Thanks to matched funding through The Big Give, this was doubled to £24,000.

We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors - Trinity Bridge, Odgers and Lyon & Turnbull - for their generous support, as well as to our advertisers and all those who attended. Their contributions made the event such a success.

We were delighted to welcome restauranteur, chef, writer and TV personality Dame Prue Leith as our 2025 guest speaker. Prue regaled guests with tales of her life, from hilarious accounts of winging it as a young chef, to her time judging Bake Off.

Who we are

The Women of Achievement Lunch in Scotland

The Women of Achievement Lunch began in London in 2007, to celebrate the achievements and contributions made by women with Scottish connections and to raise funds for Scottish charities.

Its success led to the setting up of a separate lunch in Edinburgh in 2018 and each lunch has raised in the region of £20,000. As well as helping to support Scottish charities, the lunch also aims to build relationships and connections among Scottish women.

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Buy a lunch ticket

The 2026 Women of Achievement in Scotland Lunch will be held in at the Merchants Hall, Edinburgh on Tuesday 10th November. Tickets will be emailed to our guest list in September. It is an invitation only event.