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Women's Engineering Society eNewsletter
 
December 2009
Greetings!
 
Welcome to this month's newsletter, the last of 2009. We hope you have been enjoying the eNewsletter, we have certainly enjoyed putting it together and keeping you up to date with WES members and WES activities.
We would like to wish you a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year and look forward to bringing you more news from WES in 2010
from the WES eNews team
In This Issue
WES member attends Labour Party Conference
WES London Cluster visits the Olympic Site
WES 90th Anniversary celebrations in Wales
WES on Wikipedia
WES members attend Virtual Connections
WES Conference 2010 Volunteers required
WES Council Member, Sarah Peers attends the Labour Party Conference
 

Every year, the National Council for Volunteer Organisations (NCVO) run a bursary scheme to enable representatives of small charities to attend a party conference.  This year, I applied for a bursary on behalf of WES and was given the opportunity to attend the Labour Party Conference, held from the 27 September to 1 October at Brighton.

The NCVO had arranged conference passes for all bursary holders for the whole event, and paid for travel and accommodation on the Sunday night. A programme of events was arranged on the Sunday, including a fringe meeting with Angela Smith, the Minister for the Third Sector. We were able to introduce our organisations and place a question. Of the four bursary holders, three, including me, had questions relating to funding.

We were also taken out for an informal dinner with influential and senior people heading and representing various charities and volunteer organisations, such as Kate Green of Action Against Childhood Poverty. They had a great "do it" attitude.  After chatting to Kate about WES, she made me promise to "speak to Harriet" about our aims  The next day I tried to do just that at fringe meeting on equal pay, but Harriet (Harman) foiled us by leaving the meeting early and leaving Vera Baird, the Solicitor General, in charge.  In spite of much arm waving (in a sea of other arms) and a determined chase down a corridor trying to waylay Vera, my chance slipped by. But it was all fun. I would have tried raising another of my pre-prepared WES-related questions at the fringe event hosted by the IET, but this was held after I had to return home. But apart from this and Peter Mandelson's famous speech in which, amongst other points, he extolled the virtues of "real" engineers, it seemed to me that STEM and engineering had little visibility at the conference.

If anyone has ever wondered whether or not to attend a party conference, I would say go for it, it certainly is an experience.  Don't expect to be able to speak to VIPs and the influential, but do expect the unexpected - maybe you will have the chance to raise the profile of engineering.



WES London Cluster visits the Olympic Site 
 
Julie Winnard of the WES London Cluster organised a trip to visit the Olympic Site, it was an interesting tour with security extremely high as well as WES members the tour group also included local residents.
 
Click here to see the photos
WES 90th Anniversary celebrations in Wales
 
The 90th  Anniversary of WES will be celebrated in Wales on 21st January 2010 at Senedd, the iconic Welsh Assembly Building in Cardiff Bay. The event is currently sponsored by ICE Wales Cymru and Constructing Excellence in Wales, further sponsorships are sought from interested partners. The theme is Sustainable Development and Jean Venables OBE is confirmed as the keynote speaker. It is hoped that this event will be attended by a number of Welsh Assembly members and a minister as well as representatives of industry and academia of Wales. For further details contact
Milada Williams

WES on Wikipedia
 
WES now has an antry on Wikipedia and we invite you to have a look and add your comments
 

Click here to go to the entry
And finally....
If you have any articles you would like to have featured please contact the WES office  by clicking here.
We'd love to hear your stories of your schools outreach activities or ideas to inpsire young people that we can share across our community.
 
Don't forget to forward on our e-newsletter to your friends and contacts, male and female and help to inpsire more young women to consider engineering and technology as a career.
 
With good wishes
 
the e-News team. 
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WES members attend Virtual Connections
 

Several WES members, including Suzanne Speed, Sally Sudworth, Pam Wain and Milada Williams, attended a discussion on Virtual Connections, Supporting Women in SET Online in Cardiff City Hall on 21st October 2009. The event was organised by the UKRC Connect team as part of their programme to offer useful information to strengthen women's networks. It was attended by representatives of Welsh and English universities, local and national companies, engineering institutions, media and special interest societies. Ayo Bakare and Ruth Wilson of UKRC presented the variety of "new" media being used by the organisation to communicate. Merits of Facebook, Twitter, Second Life, LinkedIn, Ning, etc. were vigorously debated and the conclusion was drawn that the personal preferences may be driven by the group aims and needs. Pam Wain was invited to talk briefly about Daphnet. Most people agreed that although they used a wide variety of electronic media, so much of their working time is spent in front of the computer screen that there are limits on how much of their free time they are willing to give up to electronic communications. Most companies actively block social networking websites, though LinkedIn may be allowed.

 

The event began with a speed networking session, and there was generous networking time, including an excellent sit-down meal. As usual, Milada and Pam made sure that everyone knew that the Women's Engineering Society was there - and Milada ensured that everyone got a Doris Gray Conference leaflet.

Quick Links
  
 
National Apprenticeship Awards
 
The National Apprenticeship service is launching its seventh annual Apprenticeship Awards click here for more information. Entries close 27 February 2010
 

Engineering and Technology Board changes its name to EngineeringUK. Click here for more information.
 
 
�4.5 million for more training in the Engineering Construction Sector, click here for more.
 
Membership
  News 
WES Conference 2010 Volunteers Required
 
Following on from the success of this years conference discussions are already underway for next years annual conference. Volunteers are required to sit on the Conference Commitee to help plan and organise the event. If you can help please contact the WES Office.
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