Agenda and minutes

ATTENDANCE: Pauline Woodhouse (PW, Chair), Michael Macleod (MM, NBC), Debbie MacColl (DM, NBC), Paula Whitworth (PW, Individual), Sheila Baker (SBa, Townswomens Guild), Neelam Aggarwal-Singh (NAS (IHWO), Surendra Malhotra (SM, IHWO), Nicola O’Neill (NO, Aquarius), Helen Elliot-Mainwaring (HEM, NGH), Sarah Toney (ST, NBC), Rachel Packman (RP, Police), Serita Bonsignore (SB, St Andrew’s), Anjona Roy (AR, NREC), Cllr Muna Cali (MC, NBC), Laura Nowell (LN, Police), Morcea Walker (MW, Individual), Susan Jackson (NHS).

APOLOGIES: Pindy Chahal, Kate Scott, Louise Musson.

Minutes accepted.

11am opening speech

Rock choir 12

IWD award 1:30

Rock choir 2:30 to close.

Catwalk/fashion show in the courtyard.

DM: do we want to add more things onto the stage or are we happy?

NAS: If theres too much going on, it stops people from networking but then again the performances bring people into the hall.

DM: I think it would be good to have a performance before the award to bring people in.

SB: Are there any films or videos that could be shown?

SBa: Can’t have too much noise on the stage, we found it difficult to talk to people.

SB: We work with a local company, could see if they could be involved.

NAS:  We could have a slideshow of previous days.

Forum discussed what could be put on a slideshow or screen.

MW: Could get the girls school or the high school involved, they may have videos or something to contribute. Would be good to get younger girls involved.

DM: Do you have contacts?

MW: Yes, for both.

NAS: This could be something we could really focus on for next year, see how many groups have activities and services for women and we could advertise those groups and show what they have to offer.

RP: Could build it year by year to show the evolution of the event.

SB: We could also look to have involvement from Q Space or Lowdown regarding LGBTQ.

DM: NAS group to perform around 1pm?

NAS: I can check that they are available and to perform as a welcome for the award.

DM: Will be doing child’s crime scene activity again to occupy children whilst parents enjoy the activities downstairs.

Helen Puk to do activities in the Jeffery Room.

Elsie’s to do hot and cold drinks and cakes but because of the catering contact, we cannot have any other organisation preparing and selling food.

Court Room will be set out as a café space.

DM: there will also be an internal IWD award for NBC, looking to also have museums set up a display with inspirational women from Northampton.

SB: is there anything for children?

DM: Yes, we have a children’s entertainer and also the crime scene activity.

ACTION: MM to send form to Townswomen’s Guild and IHWO.

SB to share information with St Andrews staff.

DM: If there are no pamper session we could do an arts/crafts session instead.

AR: Could you share more info about IWD19 other organisations are hosting events too.

SB: We would be happy to share the information.

MW: Shall we leave out the school this year?

PW: As it is images it would be fine to contact them.

AR: The rock choir took a lot of the time and it was almost exclusively white older women, I think we should look to prioritise getting young women into the event.

SB: There are younger women in the St Andrews choir.

AR: Look to be more diverse with what’s on the stage.

PW: Recommendation taken on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

This is to talk about the impact of the move of the University on the town.

Four scrutiny panels. Homelessness, University, Adult Health Care and Civic.

The 31^st -next week.

People are sent a series of questions and they reply to those questions.

Main issues are parking in Far Cotton, it is one of the main entrances to the university. There is park and ride but students and lecturers do not seem to be using it and instead they are using the streets nearby.

Also, Northampton are on County Lines, this basically means we are in a good place to move drugs through. Does the university being right in the centre of the town have an impact on this etc.

There have been incidents with fireworks and also cameras that can see into resident’s houses etc.

PW: Has anybody been affected by the University move?

SB: Yes I think positively, but on the other hand I do think there could be more to bring the community together.

MW: I think our young people feel threatened as there are so many new people in the town, I have had people come up to me saying this. The influx of new people in this area may be too much for some. Also young people saying it is harder to find the weekend jobs etc.

PW: It is useful to know, there may be a ‘them and us divide’ for some. There will be these problems, but the development, growth and development of the town needs to include both local people and students to try and find an understanding.

MW: Small things like the Morrison’s car parking becoming very busy from visitors.

AR: I don’t think paying for parking is an issue, there is no parking full stop and if you have a meeting there, you then have to give them your detail prior to going.

Massive issues to race and gender. Huge increase in the BAME community and this is not reflected within the staff. One thing they could do is actively work to develop relationships with BAME communities within the town. It is harder for them to find support groups for those individuals when they may be struggling. Women also need to be empowered more to understand about consent. People can submit their negative experiences which will lead to a report with recommendations, closes mid-February.

PW: We have been talking about a community pack that as a group we could help come to life, to help those people who may need help but do not want to use the university services. We could all compile information and pull together useful contacts for young women and diverse groups at the university.

Co-Chair is Cllr King, we can pick up this discussion with her.

MW: A start could be Dr. Deborah Mattock at the university.

NAS: IHWO were informed that the church group organises a lunch for new students in September, we tried to do this for international students, we had trouble  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

PW: Recently taken over the post of manager of Bellinge Community House. Busy centre with all sorts of going on, all are welcome.

SBa: TWG Celebrated 70^th birthday in Northampton.

NAS: Will forward all flyers on to MM.

NO: Aquarius are still providing free training for professionals, also will go out to community groups. Contact Aquarius for this. Also free gambling counselling.

RP: New hate crime officer – Yemi Holman, she is based here at the Guildhall. Different concerns regarding Brexit are coming in from various groups. Many concerns about possibility of future funding and less disposable income for people to contribute to charities.

PW: This could go onto a future agenda.

NAS: I think this is a good idea.

SB: St Andrews are relaunching employee networks, focusing on BAME, LGBT and also looking to launch a women’s one. Looking for an honorary member.

Working with NHFT, they have a conference regarding the BAME community and mental health. Looking to make the most of these but not sure how we can share some of this information. At the Park Inn on the 11^th February. NHFT not very good at getting this information out to the communities that are the subject of their training.

DM: If anyone becomes aware of something that they think need sharing, please let us know and we will get it out there.

AR: 27^th Jan – HMD lecture, speaker from the University of Stafford. Statement about financial problems that the NREC are having. AR currently in a temporary role. The case work has had to stop, all that is happening now is initial advice.

MC: Will pass anything necessary onto MM, some date in April, looking to set up an event about how women in different backgrounds have been affected by things such as FGM, violence and abuse etc.

MW: Herbert Protocol, look at getting leaflets out for this on IWD19. Speeds up the process when someone goes missing.

Following on from AR, Wellingborough may have a Holocaust Memorial Day.

28^th 6pm-6:30pm Holocaust Memorial Day event happening at the Deco, has many speakers.

Carnival will be on 8^th June, application forms will be going out in the middle of February.

SB: We have a lot of space at St Andrews that are not used at the weekends, it can seat around 200 people and we may be able to offer this for free to community groups.

NAS: Supplementary schools are struggling to get meeting rooms on Saturdays and Sundays.

SB: On the weekends they are mostly free, if you could please talk to me we can see what we can do.

NAS: Brainstorming for the 2020 IWD.

SB: Mental health awareness, to find the need in the community to see what we can do to support.

NAS: We know there is a need but it is currently not being met. We were approached by an organisation previously but nothing came into fruition.