After winning the national finals of the Business and Professional Women's Organisation Public Speaking Competition, Sian E., Caitlin D. and Sasha Y. were invited and sponsored to attend the annual National Conference at the Hilton Hotel, Bristol, as guests of the BPW. It was a wonderful afternoon, and they thoroughly enjoyed listening to talks on Equality, Safety and Freedom, delivered by international experts in each field. In particular, they were inspired by Dr Fin Mackay, a female rights activist in the UK for over 15 years, and an expert on domestic abuse awareness and prevention. Dr Finn spoke of the importance of knowing one's human rights, whilst also encouraging the audience to take a stand against gender inequality. Another speaker, Nick Gizzard, spoke of his personal trauma, as he lost his 20 year old daughter, Hollie, to an ex-boyfriend, as her relationship was later classed as an example of domestic abuse and coercive control. Since her death in 2014, he has developed a personal safety application for all smart phones entitled, 'Hollie Guard'. We were so moved by his emotional account, and impressed by this ingenious design, that we have since presented the importance of this app in numerous assemblies in school, raising the importance of personal safety.
the girls thoroughly enjoyed the conference, learning a lot and also improving their networking skills. Many thanks to Mrs Richards for giving the girls the opportunity to take part in this prestigious competition, and offering her enthusiastic support throughout the entire process.
