Tuesday 26th May
As the YWILPF representative, I was invited to
join Diane and Sasha to travel to Scotland. This was my first visit whereby I had a short presentation to make about YWILPF. It was exciting to journey to Edinburgh for a possible re-establishment of the Scottish WILPF branch. Diane, Sasha and I had an inspiring time meeting activists in Edinburgh, who were excited to restart the WILPF branch up there. WILPF women present in the meeting were Sasha Jesperson, Diane Brace, Helen Kay, Janet Fenton and myself. 5 non-members, who later joined WILPF, were also present.
The meeting itself began with a small photo exhibition of WILPF’s past and present, followed by Helen Kay’s short history of Edinburgh and WILPF. For an insight to WILPF, Janet discussed why she had joined WILPF and her current project in Edinburgh. Diane did an excellent job explaining WILPF’s current standing and international status, which intrigued many of the women in the room.
In order to encourage the younger members in the meeting, I thought it fitting to explain why I joined WILPF and how, after one year, I got on the WILPF executive board. YWILPF is about members being active, and I went on to explaining future initiatives planned, with the possibility of expanding YWILPF into Scotland through the Scottish parliament. We had two young people in the crowd who worked for the Scottish parliamentary and two other women who worked at universities in Scotland, which was a very encouraging start.
join Diane and Sasha to travel to Scotland. This was my first visit whereby I had a short presentation to make about YWILPF. It was exciting to journey to Edinburgh for a possible re-establishment of the Scottish WILPF branch. Diane, Sasha and I had an inspiring time meeting activists in Edinburgh, who were excited to restart the WILPF branch up there. WILPF women present in the meeting were Sasha Jesperson, Diane Brace, Helen Kay, Janet Fenton and myself. 5 non-members, who later joined WILPF, were also present.The meeting itself began with a small photo exhibition of WILPF’s past and present, followed by Helen Kay’s short history of Edinburgh and WILPF. For an insight to WILPF, Janet discussed why she had joined WILPF and her current project in Edinburgh. Diane did an excellent job explaining WILPF’s current standing and international status, which intrigued many of the women in the room.
In order to encourage the younger members in the meeting, I thought it fitting to explain why I joined WILPF and how, after one year, I got on the WILPF executive board. YWILPF is about members being active, and I went on to explaining future initiatives planned, with the possibility of expanding YWILPF into Scotland through the Scottish parliament. We had two young people in the crowd who worked for the Scottish parliamentary and two other women who worked at universities in Scotland, which was a very encouraging start.
Sasha emphasised the importance of national WILPF branches and what strategic changes are coming about the organisation. It is fundamentally important that Scotland have a branch as it is not possible for Scottish WILPF members to travel in and out of the country for meetings or events. Furthermore, with such close ties to the Scottish parliament and prestigious universities, Edinburgh (as Scotland’s capital) have a flourish of events, which WILPF can participate in, throughout the year.
Janet and others discussed the unique opportunities that they have with the Scottish Parliament, and Helen has sent through this you tube video as an example.
MSPs have joined together in song to say that it is Crunch Time for Trident. They were filmed in the Scottish Parliament to promote the Sing Out for Peace march and rally in Glasgow on Saturday 20 June.Rob Gibson (SNP), Cathy Peattie (Labour) and Robin Harper (Green) sang the new song, Crunch Time for Trident, written by Ian Davison for the event. They are introduced by Mike Pringle (Lib Dem).
The video is on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC2WAerrp1Q
Well done Scotland, and WILPF women to have the enthusiasm to re-establish the Scottish branch.
It was a great success.
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