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.