autumn newsletter 2012
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history of the centre by
capturing stories of the
women involved in its
establishment. In this
way, we hope to
preserve the heritage of
this organisation and learn from it while at the
same time stepping into
the future. Our second
project is all about the
future. While the details
are yet to be pinned
down, we envision it to
be a challenging yet
inspirational event called
‘What Works for
Women?’ focused on
finding solutions to the
problems women face in
today’s world and how
best to tackle the
inequalities which cause
these problems.
If you have questions,
comments or ideas about
either one of these projects, contact Melanie
Jeffs on :
melanie@nottinghamwo
menscentre.com
The history of
Nottingham Women’s
Centre has long been
entwined with that of
feminism in the UK,
having originated from
the Second Wave of the movement in
1971. This was the
time when groups all
over the country
were springing into
action, galvanised by
the first National
Women’s Liberation
Conference in 1970
and the set of
demands that
emerged.
It was then, right in
the early days of the
movement, that the
centre was
established, making it
one of the first ones
in the country. From
what we know about
the services offered by
the centre then, we can
see that they were
based around the same
demands, some of the
original groups housed
in the centre being Women’s Abortion &
Contraception Group,
Lesbian Group, Feminist
Theory Group &
‘Battered Wives’ which
later became Women’s
Aid. More than four
decades later, these
demands are still
reflected in the work of
the centre in the form
of the courses, activities
and women only
services we offer.
Keeping in mind our rich
history and long
association with
feminism, we are proud
to announce two new
projects that are in the
initial stages of
development. The first
one is the ‘Oral History
Project’ which aims to
recover some of the lost
Looking Back...Pressing Forward
Autumn Newsletter
October 2012
Special points of interest:
MAG takes off! (p.5)
Money Matters Course ends on a high note (p.4)
Counselling scheme welcomes new counselors (p.2)
Our 60 Second Survey(p.8)
“Winning Ways”(p.8)
Inside this issue:
Mel’s Desk 2
Volunteers’ Hub 2
News from Daycare 3
Training and Support 4
Members’ Corner 5
Summer BBQ High-
lights 6
Fundraising Updates 7
Staff Spotlight 7
Save the Date!
Our AGM is
on the 5th of
December
2012, 5:30pm More news and updates inside ...
particularly important for
women, who are more
likely to be carers of
children and of other
family members. These
policies are noticeable by
their absence in Parliament with politicians
often working long hours
into the evening and
spending time away from
their families.
We’ve recently seen
Conservative MP Louise
Mensch quit because she
couldn’t juggle both
demands. Tessa Jowell, a
member of Labour’s 2010
cabinet, revealed that she dealt with her workload
by going without sleep
one night per week.
Work-life balance is not
the only issue of course.
It’s also important to
think about how women
take their first steps into
politics. Stories of the ‘old
boy’s network’ are not
likely to be without
foundation and women
who go home to their
families, rather than
stay at the bar
networking may find
themselves overlooked when opportunities
arise.
But diversity is
important and the
impact of drawing more
women into politics
shouldn’t be
underestimated.
Different views, life
experiences and
genders help decision
makers to be innovative
and responsive to the
real needs of our
communities in ways
that a ‘stale, male and
pale’ elite cannot do.
More women in politics
could mean a more
collaborative approach to tackling some of the
country’s most difficult
From Mel’s Desk… Where are the Women?
Volunteers’ Hub….by Ciara Smyth
Another of our
volunteers, Ellie, has also
received employment of
late. Ellie is working as a
support worker with a
project in Derby and again
her time volunteering with us was a great help in getting this job.
September has also seen 5 new counsellors join the
counselling department. Fiona, Geradine, Lorraine,
Beth and Ellie are all undertaking training
programmes in psychotherapy and counselling and
are undertaking their placements here. As well as
supporting the women to achieve their
qualifications, it also means that we will be able to
dramatically reduce the waiting list for clients that
we have . This is a great achievement on our part
and we hope it will mean that lots more women
can receive our support.
Things have been busy in the volunteering
department. This month sees the return of the cafe
to the centre, and the summer was spent recruiting
new volunteers to run it. I undertook an induction
with the 4 new women in late August and they have
now commenced in their roles as catering assistants.
They are a real asset to the centre. The cafe has been such a great addition to the centre and opened
up lots of voluntary opportunities for women! As
well as helping them develop their skills and
confidence levels it has enabled them to meet other
women and make more friends.
One of our volunteers, Lorna, has just been offered
an administrative job with Women’s Aid! This is a
great achievement for Lorna and a true testament to
how volunteering at the Centre, can and does lead
to employment opportunities for the women.
Page 2
After the recent cabinet
reshuffle it’s hard not to
feel that our current
political system is failing
women. We now have just
four women at the top
table in Government, from
a total of twenty-two
Cabinet Ministers. Locally,
the picture is a little better
but still not great– just
under 30% of Nottingham
city councillors are female.
So where are the women?
There are clearly some barriers to address. Family-
friendly policies that
promote work-life balance
are
problems. And it is
possible – look at
Sweden, Switzerland or
France where men and
women are at the top
table in equal numbers.
At Nottingham
Women’s Centre
we’re keen to support
more women into
political roles. If you’d
like to find out more
or want to begin taking
your first steps into
politics, why not come
along to the event that
we’re hosting with the
WEA on Friday 2nd
November. For more
info see: http://
Don’t forget to use
your vote!
On 15 November 2012
elections will be held
across Nottinghamshire
to appoint a Police and
Crime Commissioner
for the area. The Police
and Crime
Commissioner will set
the priorities for the
police force within their
area, respond to the
needs and demands of
communities and set the
budget for this work.
For more information
see: www.notts-pcc.org.
Hi everyone, I’m going
to start off with
welcoming Janet Smith
to our day care team.
She has been
volunteering within our
day care for 3 years now and now has the
opportunity to work
with us. I would like to
say a big thank you to
Jade McKinlay who will
be leaving us at the end
of October, it will be
very sad to see her go.
We are also going to
have somebody new
starting with us as an
apprentice who will then
work within our day
care to achieve their
NVQ level 2/3 in child
care. We are aiming to
get the two-year free
childcare funding in
January which means we
will be able to support
some parents with free
childcare places. We are
expecting a visit from
OFSTED at any time so
the team is working
extremely hard in order
to make this visit a flying
success.
Remember, our
daycare is a nursery
that all women can
access - you don’t have
to be using our services
here.
Our Team:
Tara Gent -
Daycare Manager
Elizabeth Wilson -
Daycare Deputy Manager
Janet Smith -
Daycare Worker
Jade McKinlay -
Daycare Apprentice
What is a Storybag?
A Story bag is a large
bag containing a young
child's picture book
with supporting
materials to stimulate
interest in the book
and to develop reading
skills. These may also
include items such as
matching games, jig-
saws, finger puppets or
"small world" toys.
How can you help?
Sponsor a Story
Bag for £30
This will pay for all of
the materials for the
bag itself including the
books and other
resources. The Story
Bag will be given a tag
with your name or any
other information of your
choosing and we’ll send
you a personalised thank
you card made by the
children.
* Special thanks to the
following people for
donating Storybags: SI
Nottingham, Kecy Nwosu,
Emma Maraio, Angela
Kuhn, and Mandy, Amy
and Jacqui from
Nottingham City Council
News from Nottingham Women’s Centre Daycare... by Tara Gent
Opening Times:
9am - 5pm
Mondays - Thursdays
Page 3
Our successful Money Matters
course culminated in an
inspiring workshop lead by
financial expert, Jackie Dunn
on the 27th of September.
Jackie, who was born in
Sunderland, had a rough childhood and fought bullying
and low self esteem before
going on to have a successful
career in finance. She now
provides financial coaching to
women and kindly agreed to
give a talk here at the centre,
sharing with us her incredible
story and giving practical
advice on taking responsibility,
not just
of our
finances but also our lives!
This event was attended by some
of the women from the course as
well as others, and was
thoroughly enjoyed by all. As well
as giving financial advice, Jackie
also carried out a few empowerment exercises,
designed to make the women
present feel good about
themselves. This part of the
workshop was especially popular.
One woman told us about how
she had been really down in the
dumps all morning and that the
workshop had really lifted her
mood! Another commented that
Jackie was ’absolutely brilliant’ and
had made her feel ’so much
better’ about herself.
This was a great finale
to our pilot of the
Money Matters course,
run by Nicki and funded by
the MSE Trust, which had been
focused on helping women manage
their money, deal with debts and
other financial issues according to
their needs.
Our next Money Matters Course
will be starting in January 2013. For
more information please contact our
Training and Support department on
0115 9411 475 (ext 208 or 209) or
email Karen on
karen@nottinghamwomesncentre.com
Money Matters course ends on a high note
Learn something new with our courses
We’ve got something for
everyone! Here is a list
of all the courses, groups
and regular activities we
currently offer:
Changes Café
Lesbian/Bisexual Women’s Café Evening
Radical Readers
Women’s Empowerment Group
Maths for Life and Work
Literacy and Numeracy
Counselling Skills
Page 4
The Blue Mountain Women’s Group in partnership
with Nottingham Women’s Centre, as part of Black
History Month celebrations:
‘Remembering the Caribbean’
An exhibition showcasing women from the Carib-
bean! Heroines from WW2, artists, entertainers,
poetry, folk songs along with a buffet
meal & live entertainment!
Date: Friday 26th October 2012
Time: 6pm– 9pm Venue: NWC
GETGETGET UP!UP!UP!
Million Women Rise Million Women Rise Million Women Rise FundraiserFundraiserFundraiser
Saturday, 27th Oct, 8pm
-1am. Tickets: £7/£5/£3
The Polish Centre, Clumber Avenue off
Sherwood Rise, NG7 6JN.
LIVE ACTS: Reluctant Roadtrip
The Very Good Magic Act
Women Only
Counselling Service
Holistic Therapies - Massage, Reiki, EMF Balancing
Job Club
We will also have these courses starting soon:
Career Preparation: 1st- 22nd Nov
Anger Management: 10th Jan- 21st March 2013
PTLLLS: 16th Jan 2013
Money Matters: 15th Jan 2013
For more information or to enroll please call Karen,
Kate or Carol at the TAS team on 0115 9411475 (ext
208 or 209).
Members Corner ...by Tracey
Important date for your diary!
Page 5
“Nottingham Women’s
Centre staff is so nice, very
friendly, warm, welcoming &
very supportive. I enjoy going
to the Women’s Centre not
just for support, but because
of the atmosphere.....
I thought the MAG
(Members Action Group)
meeting was a good idea. I
found the meeting very informative and like the idea
of the History of the
Women’s Centre. It’s a
brilliant idea and just the
makeover upstairs will make
such a difference.....
So it’s nice to have a nice warm
welcoming place to go to and you
can sit in the welcome room
space and make a drink for a small
donation and we run a cafe certain
days as well, and it’s so cheap so
why not come and have a bite to
eat. We also have a crèche and
have so many different things to
do here, you’ll be spoilt for
choice.
Why not come to an open day? I
thought it was nice to meet other
members of staff and find out
what their job role is. I found out
a bit more about what the
Women’s Centre does. You
would enjoy it.“
The Member’s Action Group
(MAG) had its first meeting
on the 12th September, and
discussed how members feel
about the centre and how the
centre can better respond to
their needs. For those of you
who don’t know, the MAG is
a group for members and
service users, created to give
them a say in the running of
the centre and to provide a
direct link between members
and the Board of Trustees. It
is your centre and it is important that your voice is
heard, and MAG provides the
opportunity to do just that.
In the first meeting, it was
discussed how to make
women feel more welcome in
the centre, especially when
coming in for the first time.
Suggestions were made and
different options explored on
how to make the centre
more approachable for and how to communicate the
services it offers. MAG is
open to all members so come
to the next meeting and have
say in running your centre!
Contact reception for
information on the next MAG
meetings.
Thanks to everyone for coming to the first MAG
meeting. If you missed it. You can catch up on what
happened here:
Wednesday 5th December
A special day to celebrate the
Nottingham Women’s Centre,
looking back at our past and looking
forward to our future (including our
formal AGM)
3pm – 5pm: 25 years at Chaucer
Street. We’ve been at our current
venue for 25 years and we want to
encourage women involved in the
move and early days at Chaucer Street to join us for an afternoon tea
reunion. This will be a chance to look back over our history and
reconnect with the women that helped to bring us here.
5.30pm: Our AGM – as well as the formal business we’ll be outlining
our plans for the next year and holding elections for the Trustee
Board. We are looking for new Trustees so please contact us if you
are interested in joining our Board.
6.30pm: Refreshments and networking
7pm – 7.45pm: Women’s comedy – a taster of our plans for next
year’s International Women’s Day – with a debut from a newly formed
act ‘Joblot’
“This place has turned my life
around.” - comment from a Centre
user in our summer survey
Summer BBQ highlights
Page 6
News from Nottingham Women’s History Group
Upcoming Event: Women’s Literary Lives
17th November at 2 pm at the International Centre on Mansfield Road, Nottingham
Featuring the work of Dorothy Whipple, Annie Matheson and Ruth Adam.
Speakers Bridget Rech and Rowena Edlin-White
Cost £3 donation
Laura Knight in the Open Air
31st October 7pm Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham
We are having an outing to see the exhibition and join a tour organised by PHD students. You must book
your own ticket – sooner rather than later! Tel: 0115 846 7777. There’s a great programme associated
with the exhibition. Cost free.
For further information : www.nottinghamwomenshistory.org.uk, e-mail:
nottmwomenshistory@gmail.com, Tel Mo: 07950 472022
Membership benefits
Free Use of In House Library
Discounted prices on certain In House
events
Free Advertorial Space in our newsletter
15% off the total bill At Big Poppas Restaurant
10% off the total bill At Elegance Hair and
Beauty Products
Special offer Prices on selected treatments
at Sheer Definition Nail and Beauty Spa on
Wednesdays “Women’s Wednesday”
If you would like to
fundraise for Nottingham
Women’s Centre but
don’t really know how,
here are a few ideas:
Do something challenging:
run a marathon, cycle,
or do a sponsored
swim – getting your
friends involved in this
will make it much easier,
as you will have someone
to support and train with
you every step of the
way!
Go on a sponsored
walk – perhaps do it in
fancy dress!
You can organise a quiz
evening, a tea party, a
bake sale or even a
dinner party or simply
go down to your local
supermarket and offer
to pack people’s bags
for small change
Organise your own
music or fashion
event – get local acts
involved – there are
many people willing to
give up their free time
to help! Remember, this
will require a lot of
planning and you will
need to think of
creating a budget and an
action plan to make
sure you get everything
done before the Big
Day!
Fundraise at work –
it could be as simple as
placing a collection box
at your office!
Organise a clothes
swap event, where
everyone brings 3 items
of clothing they would
like to swap and pays a
small amount for entry.
Or alternatively, you
could fundraise by
selling any of your
unwanted items on
eBay.
There are plenty of
other fundraising ideas
– email us with yours
and we will support you
all the way!
Want to get involved? Help us fundraise!
To help raise money for
Nottingham Women’s
Centre or to give
donations please contact:
Olumide on 0115 941
1475 Ext 212
Email:
development@nottingham
womenscentre.com
Page 7
To become a member, please contact: admin@nottinghamwomenscentre.com
or call 0115 941 1475
I have worked at Nottingham Women’s Centre since July 2010, I can’t quite believe it has been over two years now. In recent months my role has changed and along with working with women on the CHANGES programme, I also now take the lead on the training provision at NWC. I also run the Job Club
with the support of Nicolle our administrator and our volunteer Kim. It has really taken off recently with lots of referrals from Jobcentres mainly women wanting CVs and job search advice. I find the work incredibly rewarding
and some days very
challenging but each day is different and I love the fact that I never quite know what the
day ahead will bring.
Facts about me? I love fruit particularly mangoes and blueberries, and I have an almost obsessive need to organise
everything as my family
Staff Spotlight....Karen Feely (and the girls in the office)
will testify!!
House Share?
Lovely house in Arnold available for house share. If you are interested please contact
Jeannie on: jeanniejonathan@aol.com
Contact:
30 Chaucer Street
Nottingham
NG1 5LP
Tel: 0115 941 1475
admin@nottinghamwomensc
entre.com
limit the choice of top/ jacket.
Otherwise colour blocking
continues. Black is being teamed
with a variety of contrasts and tan
bags and boots are leading
accessories.
Nottingham is preparing for its own
’48 hours of fashion’ which happens
on Friday 12th and Sat 13th of October
2012. Find full details on the following websites:
http://www.itsinnottingham.com/
news/48/48-Hours-of-Fashion
All the best,
Ros
*I will be attending the clothes show
live at NEC Birmingham on 7th –
11th December 2012 and will be
sharing more fashion and image
styling tips in the spring newsletter
next year. You can email your
questions or comments to me at:
ros.winningways@googlemail.com.
‘collecting photos on the computer
or cut outs from magazines and
newspapers. You can also find ‘you
tube’ clips on this year’s London
Fashion Week which started on
Friday 14th September 2012*. It is
paying tribute to the memory of designer Alexander McQueen and
so watch out for the big floral
patterns appearing on the high
street
You can get more free ideas by
‘liking’ your favourite stores and
magazines on Facebook.
The general rule of thumb is to
have double the number of tops,
jumpers and blouses to trousers
and skirts. When choosing an item
of clothing make sure it will go
with three other pieces. Plain items
are easier to team up and
personalise with scarves and clever
jewellery.
Beware this seasons patterned
trousers and leggings as they will
Guest Columnist: “Winning Ways” by Ros Horsley
HAVE A CONTRIBUTION FOR THE NEWSLETTER?
DO YOU HAVE A STORY, NEWS, A RECIPE OR HEALTH TIP? SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS OR CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEWSLETTER
TO:
development@nottinghamwomenscentre.com
Time to plan your Autumn/Winter Wardrobe
Time to sort the summer
wardrobe and pack it away for
winter. Alternatively, you can
donate items that you do not
need again at the British Heart
Foundation or your local
charity shop. You can clear
the decks and focus on what
you need to be wearing this
autumn/winter.
Get your diary and some
paper and write down the
upcoming events, interviews,
working wardrobe, trips away
etc. Start your own ‘syle file’
Playback Drama Group
Taster session: Thursday 1st November 12.30pm - 2.30pm
Playback Theatre is a facilitated, creative and interactive encounter in
which audience members tell snippets from their lives and the actors
bring this to life! Jeannie’s dream is to create one in Nottingham. Everyone is welcome, no experience needed, and its a great
opportunity to have fun, learn easy drama improvising skills ad share
your experiences in a special group! So contact Jeannie at
jeanniejonathan@aol.com if you’re interested or for more
information. If you are interested in the group but cannot make the
taster session, please still get in touch.
Newsletter edited by Zaimal Azad, Marketing and Fundraising Volunteer
- thanks Zaimal! :)
We need your help!
Can you help us out by filling this
short 60 seconds survey? Just
follow the link below:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/
ZNNMDZF
Thank you.
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