Page 10 - BPW-UK ANNUAL REVIEW 2023-2024

My year of 2023 certainly didn’t start with a bang having been ill in hospital with pneu-
monia and flu over Christmas and New Year. So, although a very slow start to the year, Media
& Marketing carried on with aplomb and continued to deliver Newsletters and Wednesday Talks
whilst supporting the development of the website.

We kicked off with Ruth Galway and Jacqui McLoughlin educating us about CSW and op-
portunities that exist to get involved. Marco Lee, celebrated Professor of Neurosurgery at
Stanford University and Immediate past Chief of Neurosurgery at Santa Clara Valley Medical
Center in the Bay Area followed in February with an outstanding talk on Repairing the Brain
and Spinal Cord, one stitch at a time.

In March, Margaret Owen, founder of Widows for Peace, brought to life the issues that
impact Widows and the lack of Widows’ rights around the world. We’ve also had a number of
Working Group and member led events on Advocacy, the European Women’s Lobby, feedback
from Conference and being green.

In September we heard from BPW Ukraine’s Viktoria Filatova, on the struggles there and Jo up-
dated us on the ‘Van for Chernihiv’ project. We were also treated to an evening of Pilates and
Breath Work from Jill Robinson of Organic Pilates – who knew there was so much to breathing!

Our final event was the Christmas Social and we were treated to a game of ‘Bingo’ by
Ruth Galway which proved to be a fun way to wind up the BPW year.

I have been engaged and interested by the variety of articles in our newsletter over the
last year and the opportunity to join events across the globe. Thank you to all our contribu-
tors, this is YOUR newsletter, please tell us what you would like to see in it!

Finally, by the time you read this the new look BPW UK website will be launched and
live. On it you will find more information on our Working/Task/Interest Groups. Links to our
up-and-coming events, including the 2024 Conference in Bristol in March. New members are
now able to join on-line and pay via PayPal and existing members now have the ability to re-
new and pay on-line which is a milestone for BPW UK. It is hoped that this will allow more
people to find us and increase our membership as the internet is a key tool in our marketing.
Please ensure that you share our website address www.BPWUK.ORG.UK far and wide.

To support this we have also created a bookmark promotional tool. It’s a small item to
have handy in your bag to give to prospects when you tell them about BPW UK. Please get in
touch if you would like some.

Sadly, this will be my last report as Media & Marketing Vice President as I am standing
down after being in the role since June 2021. I would like to thank you, the members and the
FEC, for support whilst in role but it is time to step down. I will continue to be a member and
to support BPW UK with its aims and endeavours and wish success to the new VPs for their
coming term.

Jackie Franklin
Vice President Media & Marketing

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