Sunday 28 February 2010

Febuary



The last day of February - what a long winter we have had. Finally the temperatures are rising but it is now raining instead of snowing. Friday afternoon I thought spring had finally sprung, the sun was shining, the birds singing and the bulbs are finally forcing there way out of the ground. I found a beautiful lace edged primula in a flower shop in town and have planted it close to the back door to enjoy each time I go out. The poor thing is looking a bit sad as it has been soaked by the rain.

The snowdrops are doing there best but even they are looking waterlogged now.




I have got started with sowing seeds for the vegetable garden and have some healthy looking tomato and aubergine plants. I also have some healthy looking trailing geraniums which I have grown from seed this year, they are still quite small but hopefully by summer they will be full of flowers. This year I have also tried growing asparagus from seed so far 9 out of 10 seeds have germinated and are about 8 cms tall.

Thursday 4 February 2010

Inspiring Week

Certainly have had an interesting week. Firstly a workshop organised by the National Women's Commission to encourage more women to take up public positions. Of the twelve participants six of us were from Suffolk West WI. Do check out the NWC website it is well worth looking at, there are further similar events planned in other parts of the country so perhaps there is a workshop planned near you. http://www.thewnc.org.uk/

The following day there was, by chance, a talk in Bury by Wendi Momen the UK secretary of UNIFEM on ending violence against women. She was a fine example of a women in public life and knew some of the women we had met the previous day - a small world. Wendi spoke about different types of violence, not only domestic violence but also the forced marriage of very young girls and how many are forced into sexual relations with not only a much older husband but often with his male relations and friends resulting in pregnancy and she spoke of the health effects this has on very young girls.

Interestingly three of us were already planning to visit a group of young parents in a nearby town, who had expressed interest in meeting older /mature women who could be a positive role model. So the next day off we went and met up with a small group of girls and one young father. The group are being encouraged to stay in education both during their pregnancies and after their babies are born. A couple of the girls were very young and had very immature bodies, which reminded us of the previous evenings talk by Wendi Momen. Although all of these events were arranged independently of one another it was surprising how they linked together. The question is where do we go from here?