December 15, 2015

Biography of Baroness Park, ex President of FfW, is published

A biography of a remarkable woman who for many years was President of the Society for Promoting the Training of Women (now Futures for Women) has just been published. ‘Queen of Spies’ is a biography of Baroness Daphne Park, who was one of the first women to undertake a fully operational role in the Secret Intelligence Service culminating in her appointment as Controller Western Hemisphere in 1975, the highest post ever occupied by a woman. After retiring from SIS in 1979 Baroness P ark was elected Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, where she remained until 1989. BaronessPark died in 2010 aged 88 years.

“Queen of Spies” is written by Paddy Hayes and published by Duckworth Overlook.

November 26, 2015

Radio Lincolnshire play highlights the work of Jessie Boucherett

A radio play that features the work of our founder, Jessie Boucherett, is being serialised on Radio Lincolnshire during the week commencing Monday 23 November, with the full play being aired on the Friday of that week. Afterwards the recording will be available on BBC iPlayer.

“The Forgotten Suffragette” has been produced by Proto-type, supported by Arts Council England, who worked alongside University of Lincoln and the BBC in creating a radio drama concerned with women’s rights, with a specific focus on access to education, employment and the right to vote. They were particularly interested in telling the story of Emelia Jessie Boucherett as the company is based in Jessie’s home county of Lincolnshire and they were keen to highlight the important work of a daughter of the county and bring knowledge of her important work to a wider audience. The piece forms one strand of a broader body of artistic work concerning human rights, citizenship, state power and individual action that the company is currently engaged with.

August 25, 2015

Innovative thinking raises funds for course fees

Raising the necessary funding to cover the costs of undertaking a post-graduate degree is always going to be challenging but one of our grantees hasn’t let that put her off. Dani was offered a place to study an MA in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies but had a shortfall in funding. Following a successful application to Futures for Women and two other charitable trusts Dani then established a sponsorship page on a “crowd funding” website where members of the public can donate to your cause. As the donations started to arrive Dani decided to organize a raffle and after speaking to companies local to her home she managed to secure over 25 prizes such as gift vouchers and original paintings and sculptures from well known artists. Dani has now raised over £4450 from various sources and has already covered the tuition fees for her first year. We think this result is a fantastic achievement and are sure that such innovative thinking and boundless energy will put Dani in good stead whilst studying at University and during her eventual career in the heritage sector.

Original painting donated as a raffle prize by Keith Nash

June 16, 2015

Members say farewell to Trustee Dr Carolyn Boulter

After 35 years service as a Trustee of Futures for Women Dr Carolyn Boulter decided to resign from the Board at our AGM in June 2015. Members and ex-grantees who were present at the meeting joined Carolyn in cutting a cake and sharing a cup of tea.

Carolyn is a former Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of FfW. She has been instrumental in introducing new, more efficient, administrative processes for the charity and also instigated the annual Development Day meeting which gives Trustees an opportunity to discuss a specific issue. Our lunch at Englefield House in March 2015 was masterminded by Carolyn who worked tirelessly to promote the event to her contacts in her local community.

Carolyn will remain busy in her “retirement” as she is involved with many other charities and organisations local to Theale.

Carolyn (centre) cuts her cake

May 29, 2015

Spring Newsletter 2015

Our latest newsletter for Spring 2015 is now available for download (below). Read all about our recent raffle, the retirement of FfW Trustee Dr Carolyn Boulter and our fundraising lunch at Englefield House. Updates from past grantees are also included.

Spring15

April 16, 2015

Grantee directs short film showing positive influence of faith

One of our most recent grantees is undertaking a PhD in documentary film. She has recently directed a short film called ‘Faith & I’ which challenges religious prejuduces and is the first resource of its kind showing the positive influence of faith in the lives of three young women from the Sikh, Muslim and Jewish traditions. The film is currently being used by secondary schools in Scotland. To view an online streamed copy of the full film and some information about the project visit

http://www.eifa.org.uk/faith-and-i/

March 27, 2015

The sun shines beautifully on FfW fundraising lunch at Englefield House

A talk on the restoration of the garden at The Manor House, Upton Grey, designed by renowned garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, was the focus of our fundraising lunch held on Monday 23 March 2015. The location of the lunch was the beautiful Long Gallery at Englefield House near Reading in Berkshire, by kind permission of Zoe Benyon.

The event started with a tour of the church on the Englefield Estate before our 60 guests arrived at the Long Gallery for a canape and bucks fizz reception, sponsored by Tony Roe Solicitors. The delicious lunch of herb marinated supreme of chicken in a lemon and tarragon sauce followed by tarte tatin was then served. During coffee and hand made chocolates Rosamund Wallinger gave an amusing illustrated account of the history of garden design and Gertrude Jekyll’s life before telling us about her restoration of the garden at Upton Grey, together with all the trials, tribulations and lessons experienced along the way. Finally, a prestigious raffle with a variety of high quality prizes donated by local companies, including a two-day sculpture course by McAlistair Hood of Englefield Garden Centre, was drawn.

The event concluded with the guests enjoying the gardens at Englefield House, bathed in gorgeous Spring sunshine.

We would like to thank all of our supporters who made this special event so successful.

August 12, 2014

FfW grantee is short-listed for a design award

After graduating from her MA in Womenswear from the Royal College of Art FfW grantee, Camilla, was selected as one of eight finalists of the H & M Design Awards and was flown to Stockholm for an exhibition and catwalk show. At the show Camilla’s knitwear was judged by fashion and celebrity judges including actress Michelle Dockery from “Downton Abbey” and two fashion editors from “Vogue”. Camilla’s collection takes inspiration from the dystopian vision of the future found in the 1988 movie They Live, resulting in graphic metallic knits matched with fuzzy knits inspired by white noise.

Camilla is now working as a Design Assistant for a knitwear supplier who supplies high street stores such as Monsoon, Top Shop and Dorothy Perkins.

August 7, 2014

Photographs from our AGM

Our AGM on 11 June saw members present say farewell to Gillis Burgess, who retired from the Board of Trustees after 41 years service. Gillis cut a cake before sharing a cup of tea with friends. We were also pleased to welcome three interesting speakers – Victoria Lenzoi Lee, Dr Pam Hirsch and Sarah Rhodes – who spared the time to tell us about working with the Design Council, the recent BBC programme “Shopgirls – the true story of life behind the counter” and collaborating with communities in Africa to design jewellery.

To read a full report on our AGM and the three presentations please visit the News items below.

Gillis Burgess cuts her farewell cake.

Victoria Lenzoi Lee (left) with Rosie Parr, Vice Chair of FfW

Sarah Rhodes (left) and Dr Pam Hirsch.

July 3, 2014

Annual General Meeting for 2014

Our 2014 AGM was held on 11 June when over 30 Trustees and members met at ING Banking in London who, once again, provided complimentary meeting space and refreshments as part of their support for the work of FfW.

Following the formal meeting we welcomed three speakers. Firstly Dr Pam Hirsch, who is a Lecturer in English Literature; and Film History & Theory at the University of Cambridge and member of FfW, gave everyone an update on being interviewed for the BBC2 programme “Shopgirls – the true story behind the counter”. Dr Hirsch was featured on the programme on 24 June 2014. Members were informed how, in 1862, FfW founder Jessie Boucherett argued that there were far too many governesses and dressmakers and women should consider other areas of employment, such as saleswomen in shops. However, there were many objections to the employment of women in retail, including the belief that they would not be able to stand for the required number of hours and that ladies disliked being waited on by ladies! But Jessie Bourcherett believed that the main obstacle to the employment of women in shops was their ignorance of accounts, as in many schools girls were not offered the opportunity to study arithmetic. There was also a lack of public conveniences for women which impacted on their ability to become independent from the home. Jessie established the Society for the Promotion of Employment for Women (now Futures for Women) and was one of the pioneers of the women’s movement in the nineteenth century.

The second presentation was from Victoria Lenzoi Lee, an ex-grantee of FfW who is now employed as a Design Adviser by the Commission for Architecture and Built Environment at the Design Council. Victoria told members how she helps to ensure that sustainable communities are created through good design practice via collaboration with key stakeholders. Victoria’s role is particularly crucial in light of recent plans for growth, such as London’s 2020 vision.

Finally current grantee Sarah Rhodes, who is studying for a practice-based PhD, brought along some of her hand-made silver jewellery that is inspired by the African culture. Members heard about how Sarah is working with communities in Africa to ensure that there is true collaboration between all parties involved in the process.

Everyone present agreed that the diverse presentations had all been fascinating and the three speakers were thanked for sparing the time to join the meeting.