Page 14 - BPW-UK ANNUAL REVIEW 2023-2024

OFFICERS’ REPORTS

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Dear Members,

Firstly, I would like to record my thanks to the members of the FEC for all that they
have done for us so willingly this year. It has been wonderful to work with them, and I hope to
work with them still through the Working Groups, Task Forces, and Interest Groups we have
within BPW UK. The FEC will change this year, as VP International Ruth Galwey and Jacqui
McLoughlin, VP MM Jackie Franklin, and VP YBPW UK Yasmin Knight step down. Thank you, la-
dies, for all that you have achieved and done through the two terms of office that you have
served.

However, we still have work to be done, as the Jeanette Arsenault song tells us and af-
ter the BPW UK AGM we will be able to introduce the new FEC Officers to you.

This year I am proud that BPW UK has registered two projects with BPW International,
which recognises the work that is being done in the areas. The first is the Inter-Regional Pub-
lic Speaking Competition that we are so pleased to offer, and it is even more popular with
schools this year. We have more participants in the SEW and NI areas, which will mean we
have six teams in this year’s Final. If you follow this link https://www.bpw-projects.org/
public-speaking-competition-bpwuk/ you will be able to see the details of this competition and
appreciate the work that is done to make this happen for young people at such an important
time in their life.

Our second project that we registered with BPW
International is the “Van for Ukraine Project”, https://
www.bpw-projects.org/a-van-for-chernihiv/ which is es-
sential to bring humanitarian aid to the residents of Cher-
nihiv with the help of the BPW Chernihiv members. At the
end of January 2024, I had the pleasure of going to Sofia,
Bulgaria, to meet with the other members of this BPW UK
project, Amelie LeClercq, Victoria Filatova, Vladyslava
Martynovych and BPW Chernihiv President Yuliia Zayaka.
To finally meet these wonderful Ukrainian women after
18 months on Zoom was a pleasure, and one that will stay
with me a long time. They took a coach, train, and plane
to be able to collect the VW Caravelle van funded com-
pletely by donations.

They had a few days in Sofia to be able to com-
plete the legalities and finish the shopping for the hu-
Left: Vladyslava, Yuliia, Amelie,
Victoria, and President Jo Kinsey manitarian aid, then the drive home which took around
three days. These women left families at home, and the
pressure of living in a war zone was clear to see.
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