Monmouth Women's Festival 2008
Celebrating women’s creativity and achievements
Thursday 28 February – Sunday 9 March
The Origins of Monmouth Women’s Festival
In November 2003, a chance remark between two friends talking about International Women’s Day developed into an idea which, much to their surprise, became the Monmouth Women’s Festival. First of all they thought about inviting one well-known woman to Monmouth on International Women’s Day to come to talk about issues to do with women’s position in society; but they began to think bigger than that. Drawing on a book-reading group to which they both belonged, they pulled a committee together and talked about celebrating the lives of women, their creativity and achievements, and drawing attention to the inequalities which still persist around the world. These ideas flowed – but there were too many to be confined to one event. The bold idea to hold a Festival over several days began to take hold. Could it be done? The first milestone was the acceptance by Glenys Kinnock, MEP, of the invitation to come to Monmouth, the second a grant from Monmouth Town Council. In the short space of three months a programme was devised, halls hired, speakers booked; with an extremely small budget and a lot of hard work, the first Monmouth Women’s Festival was born.
The pleasure and enthusiasm which greeted this new arrival encouraged the committee to continue to the second Monmouth Women’s Festival. Planning took on a new urgency as we reflected on the success of the first Festival. Could it be as successful again? There was a year in which to plan, and a slightly easier budget; and with greater confidence that we could in attract audiences of both sexes, we forged ahead. This time the breakthrough was the acceptance by Baroness Shirley Williams to talk on The imprint of women on politics, and her generosity in coming was matched by that of Dame Margaret Anstee, the first woman to reach the rank of Deputy Director General of the United Nations. All our speakers were more used to talking on national and international platforms than in venues in Monmouth, and their thought-provoking and relevant talks were supplemented by other events such as a fashion show and a complementary medicine open day which widened the appeal of the Festival. A second successful Festival!
So from the chance remark has come an annual event in this small town’s calendar. We hope that we can continue to give audiences of both sexes in Monmouth the opportunity to hear well-known women talk on matters of significance here and elsewhere, and to include events which show the diversity of women’s creativity and achievements. Enjoy!
Thank you to....
With thanks to adventa for their generous funding of Monmouth Women's Festival's 2008 programme brochure and promotional bookmarks.
Monmouth Women’s Festival also thanks the following for their support and funding:
Welsh Assembly Government, Welsh Academi, the Roman Catholic Church of Monmouth, Monmouth History Society, FMO Design.