National Women’s Register’s 50th Anniversary’s Afterglow

After a great Golden Annual National Conference for its 50th year in September - Golden Opportunities, held at Warwick University and attended by over 300 women - NWR looks back over the celebratory year.

The founder of NWR in 1960, Maureen Nicol, MBE, still an active member of the Kenilworth group felt that seeing her organisation turning fifty seemed ‘rather strange’. Maureen has never sought the limelight and is almost diffident about her role in starting an organisation that, over the years has served many thousands of women both in the UK and overseas. This year she has met many current members, including a few from Australia and South Africa who attended the conference. All have expressed their unreserved thanks to her for the founding of NWR via a ‘Book of combined thoughts’.

This book was presented to her at the Conference and contains comments along the lines of: ‘a lifesaver’; ‘has made me a group of everlasting and valued friends’; ‘I would not have survived without the support of my NWR group’. Maureen was visibly moved by this countrywide gesture.

NWR Groups across the UK held Golden day and evening events and must have increased the sale of golden gowns and bling! Gold dinners, Gold teas, Gold lunches and Gold meetings all featured and, just for something a bit different - a winning entry into Ickenham Village’s biennal Festival!

NWR will be starting its 51st year in 2011 with its members determined to make the next fifty years just as personally rewarding. NWR is still an organisation for ‘lively minded women’ providing the very personal ‘Space to be You’ that women need just as much today as they did in the sixties although possibly for different reasons. Now many are faced with the challenges of multiple family layers both younger and older to be cared for, careers, separations as well as bereavements. The support and warmth of friendships forged over past years is guaranteed each time a group meets either to discuss stimulating topics, to celebrate occasions or to try new things.

Published
22/12/2010