FIWAL

FIWAL representatives of member clubs and associations are asked to submit details of events for publication in the June issue of International Dateline by May 15th. Please don’t miss this opportunity to tell others about exciting, forthcoming events.

We will also publish short articles you would like to communicate to other FIWAL members. This is a chance for you to share some success stories, or to tell others about charitable work your club is interested in doing.

We are always happy to place advertisements in International Dateline, so if you know of an organisation who would like to reach hundreds of women in the Greater London area, please refer them to us.

An edited version of Dateline will be put on our Publications page of this website.

All information can be emailed to our Dateline Editor, Ayesha Khan, at: info@fiwal.org.uk

Tickets are now on sale for two very special FIWAL events.

On Monday May 9th, FIWAL celebrates its 25th anniversary with a delicious three course luncheon at the beautiful Crystal Room at the Mayfair Hotel. As well as a champagne reception, members will enjoy hearing what promises to be lively talk by our guest speaker, Dr Kate Williams. The title of her talk is ‘A Short History of Royal Weddings.’ For more information, visit our Events page.

On Monday June 6th, we’ll board our coach from London to visit the beautiful country estate of Lord Bath – Longleat. Home to a zoo safari and gorgeous gardens, the estate is wonderful to see on its own, but we’ll also be given a tour of the house, followed by tea with Lord Bath himself in his private garden. This event has been organised in collaboration with the Chilean Ladies Group. The ticket application form is also available on our Events page.

We very much look forward to seeing you on both May 9th and June 6th!

FIWAL members celebrated the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day by taking part in the Women for Women International-sponsored ‘Meet Me on the Bridge Campaign’ in London on 8 March 2011.  The sun was shining, spirits were high and a lot of enthusiasm was shown.

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There were 464 such events worldwide.  London’s event drew more than 2,000 women, men and children.  We met at Borough Market early that morning and marched along the river carrying banners and balloons.  Doves were released and chants and songs were sung.  We crossed Millennium Bridge and gathered at the Royal Festival Hall to hear several inspiring women speak, including Annie Lennox.  It was a day of celebration but also an attempt to raise the profile of issues facing women today. The focus was on the call to change the situations here in England as well as further afield in countries like Afghanistan.

Thanks to everyone who came out to make this such an enjoyable and successful event!

FIWAL is supporting the Women for Women Join Me on the Bridge campaign and everyone is encouraged to come along to Borough Market (next to London Bridge station) at 10:30am on Tuesday, 8th March to make banners. Look for Neena Dugal and Elisabeth Partyka when you arrive.

We will then join the march at 11am, along with thousands of other women, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.

It promises to be a wonderful day, finishing at the South Bank Centre with celebrations and special events. Please join us!

Join Me on the Bridge Flyer

FIWAL has updated its website! If you are used to the old site, we hope you find this new design easy to use (and pleasing on the eye). Although most of the information found on the old site has been transferred to this new one, we’ve had to move some things around, and of course we’ve introduced some new features.

The most important change for FIWAL is that the new site should be easier for us to keep up to date – and therefore more useful for members of our Associations – with more news items, and more events listed on the site.

As with any new site, we’ll be listening to your feedback to make improvements over the coming weeks and months. Is there something you would like to see or hear about? Is there something on the site that seems confusing or not as clear as it should be? Our volunteer website manager, Barbara Richards, would be happy to hear from you (don’t be shy)! You can reach her through the normal FIWAL email address. See our Contact page for details.

FIWAL’s 2010-2011 President Neena Dugal welcomed past presidents, delegates, and their guests for a luncheon held at the Lansdowne Club on November 22nd. Guest speaker Donna Thomson, shown below at the lectern, spoke movingly about her life as the mother of a severely disabled child and the challenges she has faced in securing both value and dignity to her son’s life. Donna’s advocacy work for her son and others has been greatly influenced by Amartya Sen and other philosophers’ roadmaps of how to realise a good life against all odds. You can find out more about Donna’s work and recently published book, “The Four Walls of My Freedom” by clicking here.

Photos from the luncheon are shown here (click on each to enlarge). You can read Mona Dahdaleh’s full writeup about the event in the January 2011 issue of Dateline.