Page 5 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 112 - May 2023 - Binded

I attended many Canadian Conventions and was so happy to be there when
my good friend and mentor Jill Worobec was installed at the Quebec Convention in
2002. Jill went on to become Regional Co-Ordinator for BPW North American and
Caribbean and I joined her when she hosted the Convention in Las Vegas, again
helping on the technical side of things. Sadly, Jill passed away early in 2021 – a sad
loss for BPW.

Back in 2015, I was lucky enough to join my friend Jeanne Martinson who
was the keynote speaker at BPW Malta during the European meeting there. Meeting
the President of the country there was a highlight, and it was an honour for all of us
to have her encouragement and backing for the Malta Careers Day which she still
supports every year. Pretty much all of the businesswomen on the island join in to
mentor and support young women from the various schools and colleges. This spe-
cial Careers Day happens every year. That Convention was also attended by mem-
bers of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council who were meeting
for their Business Forum.

I told the group about how pretty much anywhere in the world I’ve been
able to just phone the local club, tell them I’m a member of BPW and am always
made so welcome. In my business in Canada as a Technology Consultant I travelled
all over the country and it was wonderful to literally get in touch with someone in
the local group – a particular instance (and where I met Jeanne) was when I was
working for the Workers Compensation Board in Regina, Saskatchewan and I called
her to ask if there were any meetings that week. The reply was ‘well not this week
but hey, we’ll come down and join you for a drink’ That was back in the ‘90s and
we’ve remained good friends since then. They were quite the dynamic group.

I also spoke of the genuine camaraderie of BPW and how helpful they are
when in a crisis. For instance, in 2015, my great-niece was accepted to go to Venice
University. Her parents asked if I’d mind going with them to help her with finding
her accommodation and generally settling in as I speak fluent Italian – hmm that
took me all of two nanoseconds to agree! Well, after she’d been there a few weeks,
she really was finding things difficult and was homesick. I called the local BPW
group and their YBPW members kindly got in touch to try to help. Such special peo-
ple.
Well, at the end of the talk I was presented with a lovely bottle of Prosecco –
a lovely surprise.

All the best,

Margo Davidson-Wood
Secretary, BPW Canada On-line Club
Proud to be a new member of BPW UK!