Page 34 - BPW-UK ANNUAL REVIEW 2023-2024

It was with great pleasure that I took up the position of President in BPW NI at our AGM
on 12 February 2022. At our AGM we looked back at activities in the previous year and looked
forward to all that 2023 would hold. The process to merge the two remaining clubs in Northern
Ireland to one Northern Ireland Club was complete and already we were seeing the benefits of
merging two small clubs together into one. We were sorry to lose our longstanding member,
Yvonne Beaton, but welcomed Elaine McCrory as a returning member.

On the same day as our AGM, we held our Public Speaking Competition Final. Six teams
competed and in a hard fought competition Lurgan College, Wallace High School and Belfast
Model qualified for the Inter-regional Public Speaking Championship held in March.

We were honoured to host the 2023 Inter-regional Public Speaking Championship, BPW
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UK AGM and National Conference in Belfast on 10 and 11 of March. Clearly the weather does
not support us given the last time we hosted in 2010 the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull sent
an ash cloud and this year we had heavy snow. As expected, members persevered and with
some inconvenience in transportation we carried on regardless. We were fortunate to gain ac-
cess to the prestigious Parliament Buildings for the public speaking and to the Belfast Harbour
Commissioners Office for our welcome dinner. Guest speakers included Dr Theresa Donaldson,
Chair of the Belfast Harbour, Naomi Long, MLA and leader of the Alliance Party, and Maureen
Maguire, Soroptimist International President and BPW member to name just a few. As part of
the Young BPW raffle Catherine Irwin won a membership package and we welcomed our new
member to BPW Northern Ireland.

Two BPW NI nominated charities received awards from MEF in March 2023, Belfast and
Lisburn Women’s Aid and SI President’s Appeal, Opening Doors to a Brighter Future.

Later in May we were able to visit Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid to see how the MEF
award was being used in the Human Trafficking Project. A number of NI members and National
President Jo met with the Women’s Aid team and some of the women on the project. To say
the stories we heard were heart-wrenching does not convey the emotion in the room that day.
We decided we would focus on supporting this project going forward.

In August members and friends met socially to visit the King’s Coronation Garden in
Newtownabbey followed by a lazy lunch in Carrickfergus. The garden, on the shore of Belfast
Lough had an interesting natural planting scheme; the world was put to rights over lunch.

In October we held our annual International Luncheon, the first since 2019. I was quite
giddy with the excitement of meeting face to face again with friends who often join us at this
event. We were delighted to have Noelle Collins, Team Leader, Belfast and Lisburn Women’s
Aid and Human Trafficking Project lead as our guest speaker. We also invited some of the
women we had met earlier in the year as guests. The women really enjoyed the day. We put
out a call to members to sponsor the Women’s Aid guests and you did not disappoint.
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