Please RSVP and send your payment of £5 as soon as possible – and do let us know if you will be joining us for lunch afterwards.

I am delighted to announce details of our upcoming conference. Our Secretary, Lynne McAlister has crafted a very eye-catching flyer that I hope might simply be added to your club’s electronic newsletters or added to your websites for widespread distribution to all your members.

You can view the full sized flyer here.

A registration form is available on the ‘FIWAL Events’ page. I am very much hoping that contingents from all 35 FIWAL member clubs are present with us on the 30 April at the Mayfair Hotel.

We are now forming a Conference Committee to help with administrative matters relating to this event. If you would like to help us either on the day or beforehand, please do not hesitate to be in touch (mbwickware@hotmail.co.uk).

Besides news of the conference, our FIWAL website has been updated with information about events being organized by our member clubs. Click here to see them. The latest issue of Dateline has also been added to the website.

I would like to encourage you to sign up to be apprised of regular updates from FIWAL. On the lower right hand corner of this site, there is a spot to type in your email address. It is a free service! Currently, more than 30 people subscribed to receive updates. I am hoping that we will have  about four times that number by the time of the conference!

With every good wish,

FIWAL itself will be hosting two very special events this year, plus another two in 2012:

• Our Presidents’ Luncheon on Monday, 7th November will feature special guest speaker, Nancy Durell McKenna. As Executive Director of Safe Hands, Nancy is dedicated to reducing maternal and newborn mortality globally through awareness raising, education and training. We are thrilled that she will be joining us at the Luncheon.
• FIWAL’s Christmas Tea will be held on Wednesday, 14th December at the beautiful home of Salwa Myassi.
• The  FIWAL  Fashion  Show  on  8th  February  2012 – mark your calendar now!
• The  Biannual  FIWAL  Conference on  30th  April  2012 – mark your calendar!

And a quick reminder to everyone that our next fabulous event is fast approaching. If you haven’t yet booked a ticket for the coach trip to Longleat on June 6th, download the application form here and respond quickly.

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

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!

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!

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

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.