Programme Action Club Activities

Programme Action report for May 14th   Business Meeting 

We had our first meeting on 13th April 2026 which I believe was quite successful with many ideas shared and discussed. 

Social Media Campaign – about women’s safety.  See below for further information. 

Safety Walk – Fiona attended a walk which was organised by Warwickshire Community Support Police. Aim is raising awareness of VAWG. There have been a few in the area and more to come. Women can raise issues such as areas where they feel unsafe, and action might be taken eg. looking at lighting around bridges over the railway line in Kenilworth. Fiona met Angie Gavin from the DEI hub, who brought personal alarms along to give out. Organisers willing to do a walk for club during the 16 Days and come to a meeting to talk to us.  

Foston Hall Event – Donna (who is on Employer Advisory Board of Foston Hall Prison) outlined an event on  15th July .  A Chef will put on a fine dining experience, with women from Foston helping in the kitchen and with service, for employers/partners who may be able to help the women. 30-40 guests expected.  

PA would like to suggest Club supply 40 (if possible) place settings as they currently only have plastic plates and cutlery in prison. 

To include dinner plate, side plate, knife, fork, spoon, and a glass, they would not have to match.   

Club would donate as many as possible and then it was suggested that some could be purchased from the Lions as we have so many contacts there! 

Other ideas for the evening – name cards with our logo for guests and thank you gift for the ladies e.g. sweets and a message from Club.  

SIGBI Day of Action is 11th July 2026 it was suggested that the place settings outlined above could be our project. 

Other Programme Action information 

SIGBI Programme Webinar was on Saturday 18th April. The presentations from the webinar are all now available on the Hub (Library / Programme / Programme Webinars / 18th April 2026) 

1. None in Three – Adele Jones, Professor Emeritus Huddersfield University. 

The background to the None in Three Project and details of 6 of the interactive video games produced for young people based on the None in Three research were shared. We are familiar with the Danielle game based in the UK from Gill Kirkman’s presentations to the Safeguarding forum, at Conference and at our December Regional Meeting. The other 5 games are based in the Caribbean (Barbardos/Grenada/St Lucia), India, Brazil, Uganda, Jamaica.  All the games are culturally relevant to the country in which they are based. All the games are free to download from the None in Three website (www.noneinthree.org) Each game is supported by free information & guidance for facilitators. Material for the development of policy formulation is also available. 

1. Fresh Thoughts Booklet Update – SI Salisbury  

The team who produced the Fresh Thoughts Booklet in SI Poole & Purbeck have now joined SI Salisbury who have taken over the project. 12 clubs have produced their local booklets and 6 more are upcoming. Locally we now have a Warwickshire version and a Solihull version. Anawim (Birmingham Women’s Centre) via Donna are planning to produce a Birmingham version. The website is now available (www.freshthoughts.org.uk) In addition to the public facing information pages there is a club portal where all the booklets are stored. Access is via a password obtained from fresh thoughts. Updates will also be available via the portal. Version 3 of the booklet which includes all recent legal updates is on its way. Also the group are producing an ‘Easy to Read’ version designed for those working with women whose first language isn’t English or those with additional needs. It has been identified that this is preferred to numerous versions in different languages. 

1. ‘From Fear to Freedom’ Booklet – SI South Wales 

Unlike the Fresh Thoughts Booklet this domestic abuse information booklet is designed to be given out to women directly. It was produced by south Wales clubs in partnership with Welsh Women’s Aid and others and is available on the Welsh Women’s Aid website under ‘Survivor Engagement Resources’. The group have also produced flyers and cards to accompany the booklet. 

1. Northern Ireland Domestic Abuse Project – Maureen Maguire 

The project was started by SI Portadown and then involved other local clubs. Following a number of local femicides as a result of DA the aim of the project was to survey public awareness of DA, how to respond, services etc. They undertook face to face questionnaires with the general public (over 1000 in total). The findings, some of which were very concerning formed the basis of a report which was published in November 2025. It has been shared at Stormont and Westminster with the aim of trying to bring about some changes. The project PRF is available on the Hub  

The SIGBI Women’s Safety Group are currently discussing the project with Maureen with the possibility of suggesting to SIGBI that the survey is rolled out UP wide. 

1. Women’s Safety Group Social Media Campaign 

The campaign is due to start in May 2026 for 12 months and each month has a focus on a specific women’s safety issue / organisation. The attached document summarises the campaign and gives an overview of each month’s issue. All the materials for clubs to use are available on the Hub and can be found via Library/ Resources & Materials / Live Campaigns / Women’s Safety / Women’s Safety Social Media Campaign. Clubs are asked to post on 10th of each month but this can be treated very flexibly as it suits clubs. Also materials and information can be used in other ways as clubs wish e.g. meetings / events etc. and not just on social media. 

1. SI Northern England – Women’s Safety on Public Transport 

Northern England region are working with the Bus Company based in north east England who asked SIGBI to advise on the content of their staff training programme on women’s safety. Shirley Hallam has produced a video (available on the Hub with the rest of the presentations of the webinar) it explains what is happening in the NE and also the bus company explain their training programme. The Women’s Safety group are helping Shirley with this project. It may be one that could be taken forward by other regions working with their local bus companies. More information will be available in the future as things develop. 

SIGBI Programme Webinar – Wednesday 20th May – ‘From Idea to Impact : Creating, Delivering and Reporting successful Projects’ (book via events section on the Hub) Open to all members 

SIGBI Best Practice Awards – the competition will again take place during the Conference in Cardiff. Details will soon be available on the Hub. 

Cervical Cancer Campaign – is still ongoing. Materials and resources are available on the Hub. Dates that clubs may want to be aware of to use to focus on the campaign are :  

10 – 14 May National Women’s Health Week 

15 – 21 June Cervical Screening Awareness Week 

11th September Stand up to Cancer Day 

17th November WHO Cervical Cancer Elimination Day 

MAR Programme Action – at the Regional Meeting on Saturday 26th September after the AGM there will be a Programme Action event in which all clubs in the region are invited to take part. It was agreed that this year it won’t be a competition but an opportunity for clubs to share a project with each other.  

Finally we did also discuss Distraction Packs with the idea that these could be made to share with women in prison across Foston and Drake Hall.  They could also be shared with the refuge and other women’s organisations. 

Distraction Packs might contain adult colouring book, embroidered hearts, messages of affirmation, puzzles etc.  

Donna Lewis – Programme Action Officer 4th May 2026 

(with much help and grateful thanks to Amanda and Jean) 

The Foston Hall Project –  July 12th 2025

SIGBI Day of Action “Hope”

Saturday July 12th

Working with Anawim – the Birmingham-based women’s charity

Foston Hall is a prison and young offenders institution for women, in Derby.

At June’s Business Meeting, we heard about  the multi-faceted support offered by Anawim ,to women leaving this prison. We were told about the differing roles of staff at Anawim in providing help for women to move on positively after their release. The staff at Anawim had identified a small but highly significant contribution that we could make to support some of the women as they leave. At present they are presented with a barely adequate bag of toiletries to help them through their first 24 hours back in the outside world.
The Programme Action Group, in developing the ‘Foston Hall Project’, are following the advice of Anawim staff, to determine the way in which SI Kenilworth and District can help provide a positive, early start to women’s lives on leaving Foston Hall.
The target is to provide 50 attractive bags of decent toiletries and personal items for Foston leavers. Members are already busy assembling their donations to bring to July’s Business Meeting.

And beautiful bags to hold these self-worth affirming essentials are nearing completion.

On 12th July, SIGBI’s Day of Action, donations of toiletries and personal items will be collected at Milk & Mocha in Warwick Rd Kenilworth. We’ll be focussed on our Day of Action’s theme – “Hope”. And that’s the intention of our gift to women leaving Foston Hall.

And here they are.

On July 24th the project group got together to fill the bags and they will soon be on there way to Foston Hall. And with them go our very best wishes to each recipient.

18.8.25 And as a footnote – here’s the note sent by Head of Reducing Reoffending, Resettlement and Reintegration at Foston Hall on receipt of the bags,

Collecting winter coats for Anawim

As a Club we are very pleased to be able to support Anawim Anawim – Birmingham’s Centre for Women   – a Birmingham -based charity helping vulnerable women in many ways.

On this occasion, a Club member has appealed for winter coats, an ongoing need for women in difficult circumstances, and the Club has stepped up to the mark as always.

Cervical Screening Awareness Week 17th – 23rd June 2025

This campaign is vitally important because cervical cancer can be eradicated and wide spread screening is how it can be done.

We are providing information.

This was backing up the display of the same materials in Kenilworth Library – again, we are very grateful that they give us this opportunity to reach the community we live in.

We are contacting the local medical centres to ask them if they would use their waiting room screens  to show the Cervical Cancer video which has been produced by SIGBI.

Seeking advocacy of the campaign in parliament

SIGBI have provided an excellent letter to send to our MP and this has been sent.

An extract –

“We ask you to confirm the vaccination coverage in your constituency and clarify local plans for achieving the 90% WHO vaccination target.

Considering the challenges we also ask you to advocate to the Government to take the following actions

1. Enhanced Public Awareness Campaigns: To educate the public on the importance of HPV vaccination and regular cervical screening.
2. Targeted Outreach Programs: Especially in areas with low vaccination and screening rates, to address disparities and ensure fair access to preventive measures.”

Read this extract from the SIGBI campaign group with the  latest information from NHS England regarding  changes to their approach to screening.

CERVICAL SCREENING AWARENESS WEEK

NHS England announces a significant change in its cervical screening programme in time for Cervical Screening Awareness Week!

Around the world, every two minutes, a woman dies from cervical cancer, and even here in the UK, two women a day die from this entirely preventable disease.

Despite this, one in every three women fails to take up their invitation to attend a screening appointment; however, early detection of cell changes through screening can prevent up to 75% of cases…….

NHS England has announced that from 1 July 2025, all women of screening age (25-64) will be invited every five years in England, unless they are at a higher risk of cervical cancer because of high-risk Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and or cell changes, when they will be seen more often.

The move follows a recommendation by the UK National Screening Committee, following research led by King’s College London, which showed that 5-yearly screening is as safe as three-yearly, that the same number of cancers are found, and less frequent cervical screening tests are needed.

Eligible women will first receive a notification through the App, to alert them to book a screening appointment, followed by a text message if the App notification isn’t opened. Letters will remain in place for those who need them.

This week, Soroptimists will be out and about in their communities, speaking to women and raising awareness of the need to take up that all-important invitation for cervical screening.

There will be further action later in the year.

Thank you for reading.

Railway Station Survey –  May 25

SI Kenilworth and District have contributed information to the SIGBI project  surveying facilites available at local stations to promote safe railway travel for everyone in our community, with an awareness of the potential vulnerability of women.

Taken from SIGBI website:

“First launched in 1996, ‘The Future of the Railways’ was an investigation into personal safety on the railways, which the charity’s members – known as Soroptimists – used to lobby the Government into taking action to do more to protect women on public transport.

It was launched in response to a Soroptimist being attacked on a train in the London area.

Soroptimists carried out grassroots research into the views and experiences of women passengers, as well as speaking to station managers and staff and visiting over 500 over-ground stations across Britain.

SIGBI published a report making recommendations to the UK Government on how to improve safety in stations, claiming the Government’s approach to passenger safety in railway stations was ineffective.

To further advance the work being done, the charity is kickstarting the project again – asking the same questions to the UK’s railway stations, to see how much has changed, as well as expanding it to airports and bus stations, to obtain a more detailed bigger picture of women’s safety across the country. The charity is also questioning whether the Government’s approach to passenger safety has moved on since 1996”