*GATHERING POSTPONED*

Due to the current restrictions in place to limit the spread of covid-19 this gathering has been postponed. Refunds have been processed for all ticket holders. Stay at home and stay safe.    

After a year’s break, our next gathering is happening on Saturday 28^th March 2020 in London. Doors open at 10.30 and we start at 11am, running through to 4pm. We have a fantastic mix of Community, Knowledge, Celebration and Justice, and would love you to be part of it. Book here so we’re know you’re coming along.

The day will be framed as an opportunity for reflection on and equipping in sustainable leadership and activism. Women of all backgrounds involved or interested in leadership of any sort are very welcome to come along. Please do invite others!

In the Knowledge slot we’re delighted to be joined by Seyi Akiwowo, Founder and Executive Director of Glitch, a young not-for-profit organisation determined to end online abuse through advocacy, campaigning and education. Seyi has spoken at the United Nations and in 2019 was shortlisted as a Digital Leader of the Year Finalist and in 2018 named both Stylist Magazine’s Woman of the Week and Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender. She is a graduate of the Jo Cox Women in Leadership Programme and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and a Fellow of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. Growing up in one of the poorest boroughs in London, she became involved in politics in various ways to make a positive difference in her community and in 2014 was elected as the youngest black female Councillor in East London at age 23 and served for four years. Seyi will be leading a session on practical self care.

In the Justice slot Kate Monkhouse will be talking about how we can connect our spirituality and solidarity as women to sustain our work for justice and peace, in terms of personal prayer and mutual accompaniment. Kate is currently the Executive Director of Creators of Peace global women’s programme. She has over 20 years’ experience working with faith-based and community organisations in civic engagement and social inclusion. Kate links her training in conflict transformation with her formation in Ignatian spirituality. She is an RSA Fellow, helps run Two23 and lives at St Saviour’s Priory in the East End of London.

We’ll be Celebrating Bernice Hardie. Bernice is Co-Founder of Wave (We’re All Valued Equally), a grass-roots community organisation that works to enable places where people with and without learning disabilities can comfortably mix together socially. Having a daughter with Downs Syndrome who struggled to find places of genuine inclusion as she progressed into adulthood prompted her desire to change community behaviour and attitudes around learning disability. Working with others over the past ten years to develop Wave has been a roller-coaster ride that has tested and refined Bernice’s faith and attitude toward leadership, which she says she previously avoided at all costs! Bernice recently completed the first large-scale community based research project undertaken in the UK around what hinders and helps genuine inclusion. She has appeared on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour talking about her experience as a “reluctant pioneer”.

The Community session will be hosted by Belinda Norrington, who will be talking about a Christian approach to mindfulness, and leading a personal practise to close the day. Belinda is Lead for pastoral and well-being development at Zeo Church in Hitchin. She is fascinated by the human capacity for flourishing (as individuals and in communities) and the factors which mitigate for and against, and has worked for several grassroots NGOs in the fields of migrant labour, addiction and homelessness. For several years she has been exploring the intersection between Christian faith and emotional well-being, particularly the practices of mindfulness, contemplative prayer and discovering their value for human flourishing and deepening of faith and compassion.

You can BOOK HERE  to join us. We’ll be at St Clements Eastcheap, close to Bank Station, and Monument Station, just around the corner from House of Fraser. Arrive from 10.30 for an 11am start, and we’ll be ending at 4pm (at which point a spontaneous coffee / pub social outing usually occurs). Lunch is provided. Please let us know about any dietary or access needs.

We’ll be tweeting throughout the day using #GWLMar20 so do follow along there if you can’t join us in person. We’re on Twitter here, and Facebook here if you want general updates.

Our next gathering is happening on Saturday 13th October in London. Doors open at 10.30 and we start at 11am, running through to 4pm. We have a fantastic mix of Community, Knowledge, Celebration and Justice, and would love you to be part of it. Book here so we’re know you’re coming along.

We’re delighted to Celebrate founder of award-winning The Craftivist Collective, Sarah Corbett. Sarah is an award-winning campaigner and has worked as a professional campaigner for a decade, most recently with Oxfam GB. She set up the global Craftivist Collective in 2009 providing products and services to do craftivism using her unique “Gentle Protest” methodology to activism. She teaches the broader principles of ‘Gentle Protest’, including approach and language, around the world, working with arts and academic institutions and the charity sector, as well as unexpected collaborations such as with organisations Tatty Devine & Secret Cinema. Her latest book is “How To Be A Craftivist: the art of gentle protest”. She won the Sheila McKechnie (SMK) award for Economic Justice campaigner of the Year 2016. The Craftivist Collective won an Innovation Award from Care2 Impact Award 2016. Sarah has exhibited her solo exhibition ‘Gentle Protest’ in Stockholm, Helsinki and London. We’ll be talking to Sarah about her life, work, unique approach to leadership, ‘gentle protest’, and effecting global change.

We’re thrilled Dr Sarah C. Williams will be joining us for the Knowledge slot, talking about the History and Biblical Roots of 100 Years of Suffrage. Sarah is an Oxford trained historian and gifted teacher, writer and communicator. She taught as part of the modern history faculty at the University of Oxford before moving to British Columbia to teach international post-graduates at Regent College. Sarah and her husband Paul recently returned to the UK after eleven years in Vancouver. Sarah remains Research Professor in the History of Christianity at Regent College but she now teaches all over the world helping the Church recover its memory. She is the author of Religious Belief and Popular Culture and co-author of Redefining Christian Britain and she is just finishing a book on changing perceptions of gender and sexuality in Britain from c1790 to the present day. We’re so looking forward to learning from her!

In the Community session we’ll be hearing from Genelle Aldred, who’ll be talking about Taking Up Space – what are the temptations to reduce our presence and impact, and how can we overcome them? As a journalist and TV presenter Genelle has worked for the BBC, ITN, MailOnline, ITV and as an online journalist, documentary producer and weather presenter. She now freelances for Channel 5 News as a newsreader, and also works as a public speaker, consultant and media trainer. Genelle is passionate about diversity, inclusion, empowering others, and faith.

The Justice session will be taken by Katie Hagley and Karin Joseph from human rights organisation Amos Trust (whose building we meet in!). The trust’s work involves partnering with vibrant grass-roots projects that have unique local experience, expertise and connections, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in Palestine, South Africa, Nicaragua, Burundi, India and Tanzania. We’ll be learning about Amos Trust’s work with women and girls around the world, including On Her Terms, a new initiative focused on girls living on the streets “giving girls who have never had a first chance, a second” and hearing what could happen next.

You can BOOK HERE  to join us. We’ll be at St Clements Eastcheap, close to Bank Station, and Monument Station, just around the corner from House of Fraser. Arrive from 10.30 for an 11am start, and we’ll be ending at 4pm (at which point a spontaneous coffee / pub social outing usually occurs). Lunch is provided, fear not. Please let us know about any dietary or access needs.

We’ll be tweeting throughout the day using #GWLOct18 so do follow along there if you can’t join us in person. We’re on Twitter here, and Facebook here if you want general updates.

We’re getting ready for the next gathering, happening on Saturday 17th March in London.

Doors open at 10.30 and we start at 11am, running through to 4pm. Expect our usual mix of Community, Knowledge, Celebration and Justice, and quality time with great women leading in lots of different ways.

We’re thrilled to be celebrating Kate Wharton. Kate is Vicar of St. Bart’s Church in Roby, Liverpool and Assistant National Leader of New Wine. She’s the author of ‘Single Minded: Being single and whole and living life to the full’ and regularly speaks at churches and Christian conferences around the world on singleness. She loves travelling, especially to Asia. She likes fencing, cheese and onion crisps, chocolate orange, and a good G&T. We’ll be talking to Kate about leadership at local and national levels, leading as a woman and as a single person, her unique beLOVED ceremony, and being a positive change-maker in the church – just some of the many things she’s involved in!

In the Knowledge slot, Natalie Collins from the Project 3:28 Collective will be talking about the state of play for women speakers at Christian conferences. Covering the latest statistics, how to make positive changes in creating gender balanced platforms, and also revealing the new women speakers database launching soon. The database will be a place for women of all kinds of skill, knowledge and experience to create speaker profiles for event organisers to search. The team will be talking about how to make the most of signing up and using the database as a resource.

We’re delighted Kay Morgan Gurr will be leading the Justice session. Kay is Chair of Children Matter, co-founder of the Additional Needs Alliance, advocate for vulnerable children, part of the Evangelical Alliance Council. Also a wheelchair user, gadget loving knitter, married to and co-worker with Steve, she’ll be talking about why inclusion matters. You can read Kay’s blog here.

You can BOOK HERE  to join us for the day. We’ll be at St Clements Eastcheap, close to Bank Station, and Monument Station, just around the corner from House of Fraser. Arrive from 10.30 for an 11am start, and we’ll be ending at 4pm (at which point a spontaneous coffee / pub social outing usually occurs). Lunch is provided, fear not. Please let us know about any dietary or access needs.

We’ll be tweeting throughout the day using #GWLMar18 so do follow along there if you can’t join us in person. We’re on Twitter here, and Facebook here if you want general updates.

We’re really looking forward to our second gathering of 2017, on Saturday 14th October in London. As ever, this is a day for women involved or interested in leadership in different shapes, styles, and sizes to come together to make friends, build connections, learn from each other, share experiences, and – importantly – eat food! The day covers four strands – Justice, Community, Knowledge, and Celebration – and we’re thankful for the brilliant women who’ll be contributing to the day. Please do think about which younger women and emerging leaders you could bring along.

We’re thrilled to be joined this time by writer, philosopher, sociologist, broadcaster, and theologian Elaine Storkey. Elaine has written many books and articles and has vast experience in communicating through lecturing, radio and television. She’ll be leading the Justice slot talking about Ending Violence Against Women. She has taught and undertaken research at Oxford University, Kings College London and the Open University. She has been Director of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity and lectured across the world. She was President of Tearfund for 17 years and is currently president of Fulcrum, the Anglican think tank. Her latest book is ‘Scars across humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women’ .

The wonderful Jo Swinney will be joining us for the Knowledge slot, talking about Leading with vulnerability. Jo is an author and editor of Preach Magazine. Her latest book, ‘Home: the quest to belong’ has just been published with Hodder, and is a deeply personal memoir. She is married to an American gangster-turned-vicar and they live in Surbiton with their two little girls and emotionally needy cat. Jo blogs here about writing, depression and the spiritual life and says she often questions her decision to be so open about her weakness and failings. Thankfully she’s prepared to put that aside for the day and talk about it some more! We’ll be using the Community slot to explore together what leading with vulnerability looks like for each of us, what we can learn from each other, and what support looks like.

We’re also very pleased to be celebrating the brilliant Charmaine Noble-Mclean. Charmaine has worked in broadcast media for over 20 years in a variety of roles. She is currently Director of Content for Premier Christian Communications, responsible for three radio services including Premier Christian Radio, Premier Gospel and more recently Premier Praise; Premier’s magazines Christianity and Youth and Children’s Work and video and digital teams. She’s dabbled in television but has a particular passion for radio in all its forms (and suspects she has a better face for radio, though we wouldn’t agree!).  Charmaine is also a trustee for the Church and Media Network which aims to support Christians in media. She’ll be sharing what she’s learned along the way.

BOOK HERE to join us for the day. We’ll be at St Clements Eastcheap, close to Bank Station, and Monument Station, just around the corner from House of Fraser. Arrive from 10.30 for an 11am start, and we’ll be ending at 4pm. Lunch is provided, fear not. Please let us know about any dietary or access needs.

We’re delighted to welcome some very talented, dedicated, wise, women to contribute to our next gathering on Saturday 18th March. If you haven’t booked yet, you can do so here. We meet in central London to provide a place for women involved and interested in leading – at any level, in all kinds of ways, from all over the place, and of all ages – to meet, make friends, share wisdom and experience, and eat together. We have speaking and interactive sessions, and time to get to know each other too. The day runs from 11-4 at St Clement’s Eastcheap (directions below). While we don’t intentionally theme gatherings, we often find strands come together! All of our contributors this time have a lot to offer in tenacity, resilience, and building strength, with years of experience and knowledge to share.

Rev Dr Kate Coleman will be joining us for the Knowledge session, talking about ‘Going the distance as leaders‘. Kate is founding director of Next Leadership, has nearly 30 years of leadership experience in the church, charity and voluntary sectors and is a mentor and coach to leaders. She was Chair of the Evangelical Alliance Council (2012-2014) and former president of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (2006-2007). Kate is a much in demand speaker and strategic advisor who mentors, coaches and supports leaders and organisations locally, nationally and internationally. Her network extends across all sectors and church denominations. Kate is author of 7 Deadly Sins of Women in Leadership.

Kate Middleton (no, not that one!) is able to join us for the Community slot. Kate is a psychologist, author, and speaker with a medical background, and a passion for applying psychology and faith to real life, with a particular interest & expertise in emotional health. Kate is also assistant pastor at Hitchin Christian Centre, in Hertfordshire, and one of the directors of Mind & Soul. She will be talking about ‘Building Resilience’, looking at how we learn to be more confident in who we are, less prone to being thrown or swayed by the opinions of other people – but also how we get through the various storms life throws at us and adjust/adapt as necessary as our lives change as well.

And we are thrilled one of GWL’s founders, Jenny Baker, is coming to be celebrated!  Jenny is a writer, marathon runner and chair of Amos Trust. Her latest book is Run for Your Life about her experience of running and breast cancer, published by Pitch Publishing. From February she will be interim COO for Redthread. She has masters in gender studies and voluntary sector management and is also author of Equals, published by SPCK. You can read her blog here and tweet her here. We’ll be talking to Jenny about her life and learnings.

March sees both International Women’s Day and the Million Women march. To reflect on how women around the world are specifically affected by poverty, health, and other issues, Hannah Mudge will be joining us for the Justice slot. Following on from her work with the Leprosy Mission England and Wales, she’ll be talking about how women suffering with leprosy face additional issues because of their gender. Hannah is also a founder member of the Christian Feminist Network and of Project 3:28, which advocates for a more equal balance of male and female speakers at Christian events and conferences, and passionate about women’s lives and equality.

You can join us to share the conversations, food, and friendship by booking here. Lunch is provided – please let us know any dietary requirements.  Please do spread the word to other women interested in leadership. If you have any questions please get in touch. We’re on twitter here, and Facebook here.  Please do let us know if you have any access needs. We will tweet during the day using #GWLMar17 so you can follow online if you can’t come in person.

St Clements Directions: Full address is St Clement’s Eastcheap, 1 St Clements Court, Clements Lane, London EC4N 7HB. Nearest tube is Monument or Bank. From Monument tube, follow exit to King William Street and then directions to Bank tube. (Don’t go up the exits to King William Street South or Eastcheap!) Go up the steps by House of Fraser to the left. Follow the road round to the right, and turn right before Pod. St Clements is on the right.

We’re looking forward to gathering again on Saturday 15th October at St Clements Eastcheap (directions at bottom of page). As ever, we’re delighted to welcome an array of talented women to share their wisdom throughout the day. You can join us to share the conversations, food, and friendship by booking here.

In the Community session we’ll be talking about ‘Thriving in Uncertain Times’. Most of us have experience of managing shifting circumstances but it seems like something much bigger is happening in wider society: the referendum has thrown up divides between communities, friends, neighbours, and families; racism and xenophobia have become more prominent and even acceptable; traditional politics has been shaken; we are in uncharted waters regarding the society we’re moving into; responses to world events, refugees, and terror provide opportunities for unprecedented hospitality and challenging situations. We’ll be talking as a group and in individual streams about how to thrive, lead positively, and learn from each other. Taking part in the conversation are:

Sara Hyde who currently works with Working Chance, helping women with criminal records into employment, and writes and speaks on women and the criminal justice system. Sara is Vice Chair of Fabian Women, and Deputy Chair of Campaigns of the Electoral Reform Society and will be focusing on ‘Politics and Activism.’

Vonnie Williams, is a brand consultant, designer, dating event organiser, and carer, who describes herself as “black British (according to tick boxes on forms), working class, gen X’er of West-Indian heritage.” Vonnie will be talking about ‘Race and Difference.’

Revd Alexandra Lilley will be picking up the conversation on how ‘Church and Community’ can respond. Alexandra is a Curate in the East End of London, who enjoys building community through meals and exploring the relationship between faith, social justice and the arts.

Unfortunately Kate Middleton who was going to join us has had to reschedule until next year, so we’ll be joined for the Knowledge slot by Natalie Collins. Natalie is a Gender Justice Specialist. She set up Spark and works to enable individuals and organisations to prevent and respond to male violence against women. She is also the Creator of the DAY programme, and speaks and writes on understanding and ending gender injustice nationally and internationally. Natalie will be talking about the importance of self care, understanding the impact of stress and trauma, and developing self compassion.

For the Justice session, we’ll be joined by Lisa-Raine Hunt, Director of Community Programmes at City Gateway in East London. She will be speaking about City Gateway’s work with marginalised women in Tower Hamlets, a borough where 62% of BAME women are economically inactive and almost 50% of all children live in poverty – the highest percentage in the UK.  Their wrap around advice and support services are a vital part of this work as they estimate 80% of the women on programme have (or are still) experiencing Domestic Abuse and many are also experiencing homelessness, severe debt and poverty and poor health. You can read more about City Gateway here.

Please do spread the word to other women interested in leadership. If you have any questions please get in touch. We’re on twitter here, and Facebook here.  Please do let us know if you have any dietary or access needs.

St Clements Directions: Full address is St Clement’s Eastcheap, 1 St Clements Court, Clements Lane, London EC4N 7HB. Nearest tube is Monument or Bank. From Monument tube, follow exit to King William Street and then directions to Bank tube. (Don’t go up the exits to King William Street South or Eastcheap!) Go up the steps by House of Fraser to the left. Follow the road round to the right, and turn right before Pod. St Clements is on the right.

We’re gathering again on Saturday 5^th March at St Clements Eastcheap in London between 11am and 4pm. You can book here. It’s going to be a varied day with interesting and inspiring conversations, including…

In the ‘Justice’ slot we’ll be talking about Ethical Fashion, and asking do we know what this actually means? How are women around the world – the majority of the workforce producing the clothes we wear – affected by our choices? We’ll be joined by Keren Long, founder of Ethical Apparel Africa, who has two decades of experience in fashion sourcing. Keren has worked at Marks & Spencer, followed by 17 years at George, then the third largest clothing retailer in the UK.  Her recent experience includes working internationally with the fair-trade artisan textiles industry and developing factories in Africa for mass production and export especially to USA brands. She has much insight and wisdom to share. We’ll also be joined by Katherine Maxwell-Rose, editor of Rhythms, who also has a strong personal commitment to ethical living (just see her recent wedding for evidence!), and Sarah Beckett, co-founder of Birdsong, an ethical fashion company with a ‘no sweatshops, no Photoshop’ policy, and diverse and creative sourcing, partnership, and product focus (photo of Edna, one of their knitters and models). Read about them in Dazed magazine here.

Dr Liz Graveling will be sharing in the ‘Knowledge’ session about the reasons women may  avoid leadership positions. Liz works with a range of people including the church and academic researchers to conduct and support research into ministry development. Her recent work has covered the church in the UK, and using research methods to help churches understand themselves better, leading her to explore notions of being and longing and belonging. She helps leaders ask key questions including How are we doing? What are we looking for? And who are we? Her main areas of research are: Initial and continuing ministerial development, Clergy experiences of ministry and gender and ministry.

In the ‘Community’ slot we’ll be looking at ‘Being Outnumbered’. How often do we find ourselves the only one of ‘us’ in the room? Whether age, race, age or other factors set us apart from the majority how can we flourish? Chine McDonald, author and Director of Communications at the Evangelical Alliance, will be running an interactive session on developing strategies for times we’re outnumbered.

We’ll be Celebrating Jeanie Honey, who founded the highly-regarded TedX Exeter event and has curated a programme of talks with global reach. TedX Exeter’s talks have been viewed over 4 million times and tickets for the 2016 event sold out in just 22 minutes. She’s had an interesting and diverse life involving growing up in a variety of countries with a pioneering family, social work, writing, and admits to being a vicar’s wife(!). She has lots to share on identity, starting new things, change, and transition.

St Clements Directions: Full address is St Clement’s Eastcheap, 1 St Clements Court, Clements Lane, London EC4N 7HB. Nearest tube is Monument or Bank. From Monument tube, follow exit to King William Street and then directions to Bank tube. (Don’t go up the exits to King William Street South or Eastcheap!) Go up the steps by House of Fraser to the left. Follow the road round to the right, and turn right before Pod. St Clements is on the right.

We’re gathering again on Saturday 10th October at St Clements Eastcheap in London. You can book here. We’re delighted to be joined, as ever, by some change-making women. In the Community slot Jessie Jacobs will be talking about going upstream, asking why the church isn’t present in more challenging spaces. She wonders why we often expect ministry to look a certain way and how we can go wider rather than higher. Jessie is a social entrepreneur, community activist and social commentator with a deep passion for people and making a difference in the world. She won The Sunday Times social entrepreneur of the year award for a charity she set up in her twenties working with women at risk, A Way Out. We’ll be celebrating Catriona Robertson. Catriona is interested in how we live well and equitably with people who are different from us and works with churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras and synagogues. She is currently the Interim Director of the Christian Muslim Forum, which is supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also convenes the London Boroughs Faiths Network. In 2014 she chaired the Southbank Centre’s Women of the World Festival’s session on Faith. Catriona was brought up in the Church of Scotland, lives in London with her family and has been a Churchwarden, Deanery Lay Chair and member of Diocesan Synod in the Church of England. Emily Chalke joins for the Justice slot, talking about Ella’s Home, a new project that will open doors to enable recovery for women who have experienced sexual exploitation and trafficking by providing a safe and restorative home, and aims to become sustainable through developing its own small enterprises that will create employment and training opportunities. Emily has over five years experience working in Thailand for Nightlight, working with women who were trafficked into Bangkok. More details about the day to follow, and don’t forget to get your ticket!

Directions: Full address is St Clement’s Eastcheap, 1 St Clements Court, Clements Lane, London EC4N 7HB. Nearest tube is Monument or Bank. From Monument tube, follow exit to King William Street and then directions to Bank tube. (Don’t go up the exits to King William Street South or Eastcheap!) Go up the steps by House of Fraser to the left. Follow the road round to the right, and turn right before Pod. St Clements is on the right.