Inspiring words, celebration and a successful AGM

Thank you to all our members and volunteers who attended our Volunteer and AGM Day on Saturday 24th March in Manchester. The event was a great success full of learning, sharing and inspiration around all things GFS. It also gave us the opportunity to celebrate our long serving GFS volunteers and thank them for the years they have dedicated to the organisation and more importantly, girls and young women.

AGM 2018 volunteers — GFS chair, Iana Vidal, was at the AGM where she recognised the long standing service of two volunteers who received commendations for all their hard work. Janice Clark (L) who has volunteered for 50 years as a Group Leader at Eldon. (R) Kathleen Pattinson who has volunteered for 60 years as Group Leader at Swinton.

Thanks to all the following volunteers who presented on the day – they were extremely informative and a wonderful addition to the day:

Karen Grace from GFS Aigburth

Pam Hutchison and Lucy Mann from GFS Eldon

Sandra Carter from GFS Pilling

Pippa Gregory on behalf of Denise Manley from GFS Red Oak

The day also consisted of a variety of activities,workshops, our AGM and an inspirational guest speaker. There were plenty of opportunities for volunteers and members to ask questions to the Board and GFS staff, or simply share ideas amongst the group. The contribution volunteers made in terms of thoughts for future organisational development was outstanding. As always, their feedback was extremely valuable due to the first-hand ‘on the ground’ experience our volunteers bring with them.

There were many highlights of the day – including our yummy GFS branded cupcakes. The proverbial icing on the cake however, came from an engaging speech given by accomplished sportsperson and TEDx speaker, Stacey Copeland.

Stacey spoke of the need for girls and young women to push aside the gender stereotypes preventing them from reaching their goals. As a professional boxer, Stacey is used to challenging the conventional world of ‘male-only spaces’ – she’s now a three-time national champion.

It’s not just the gender imbalance in sports being challenged though – just recently, GFS attended the Accenture’s Girls in STEM event where we witnessed a growing number of young women eager to join these once ‘traditionally male’ industries.

As Stacey rightly said in her speech, “gender should never be a barrier to human potential”. Thanks for coming by Stacey, we really appreciated your attendance and inspiring words.

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