The Zonta Grapevine

Issue 1

Forward

In this edition...

Welcome to The Zonta Grapevine

Welcome to the very first edition of a new newsletter The Zonta Club of London II hopes to publish monthly for members and supporters. We hope you enjoy reading it and we welcome your contributions, if you would like to send them to contact@zontalondon.org. The aim of the newsletter is to keep you informed of the activities of our Club, including upcoming meetings, charity projects and fundraising events, as well as topical news of note. Stay tuned!

Please forward the newsletter to anyone who may be interested by using the forward button at the top. You can also send this link to anyone who wishes to sign up themselves. http://eepurl.com/bkq_8H

STOP PRESS: International President on Nepal earthquake

Zonta International President Maria Jose Landeira Oestergaard sent this statement to the members of the Zonta Club of Kathmandu after the 25 April earthquake.

You can donate to CARE International to assist the aid and recovery effort in Nepal. Girls and women are always disproportionately affected by natural disasters.

Changing of the Guard: the new board

A new board was elected at the Annual General Meeting held in April for the 2015-2016 year. The new board are as follows:

President - Rehana Raja
Vice-President - Ann Edqvist
Secretary - Sue Mansfield
Treasurer - Carol Ann Howells
Director - Britt Gustawsson
Director - Jolande Jansen
Director - Ruth Dar
Director - Angela Yin

Congratulations to the new board for the 2015-2016. President Rehana will confirm the chairs and the members of each of the new committees at the next Club meeting on Wednesday, 13 May 2015.

A new programme for the upcoming year is also being developed by the new board, so please stay tuned.

Next club meeting - Amelia Earhart dinner, Wednesday 13 May

The next Club meeting will be a celebratory dinner in honour of Anusha Mujumdar, the 2014 Amelia Earhart fellow studying in the UK.

For more information about Amelia Earhart, please read the flyer.

Please RSVP by 6 May to ruthdar@aol.com.

Area Meeting round-up - 21 March

Thank you to everyone who attended the recent Area 3 Meeting on Saturday 21 March at the Lansdowne Club. It was a great meeting a great chance to run through ideas about membership, fundraising and projects, as well as a lovely opportunity to meet other Zontians from up and down the country.

Many thanks to our Governor Marijke Jongbloed who attended from the Netherlands; it was truly an honour.

Also thank you to the two young inspirational Young Women in Public Affairs award recipients Jessica Olumide and Ore Adedula who presented to members about their achievements. A proud moment indeed!

Membership

Membership growth was a hot topic of discussion at the Zonta Area 3 Meeting. Members from Guildford, Southbank and Aberdeen as well as our own members attended.

We all want to recruit members to join our respective Clubs. To this end, together with the new branding guidelines from Zonta International, our Club will soon refresh our marketing materials. In so doing, here is a taste of updated copy being considered for the website and new brochures:

Why should I join Zonta?
We are looking for professional women from all walks of life to join us, a supportive group of women who want to empower women to reach their full potential. Being a Club member means you contribute to a prestigious global movement that empowers women and girls. You also get to develop a valuable network and skills through the various committees in the Club.

What is involved?
The Club members meet on the second Wednesday of the month to discuss Club business, including progress on the various charity projects we work on. Guest speakers from different charities give us an informative session on what their charity does and how Zonta members can assist.

If you are interested, please contact us about attending the next meeting.
contact@zontalondon.org.

Zonta Club of London II raises funds and makes donations to UK charities such as SafeHands for Mothers, Eaves and funds the Jane M. Klausman Scholarship and Young Women In Public Affairs Awards for outstanding young women.
www.zontalondon.org

General Election round-up

All the major parties running candidates in the upcoming General Election on 7 May have released manifestos, including policies on what each party pledges to do to combat violence against women and girls.

Please read the parties' round-ups here.

In addition, our resident journalist Angela Yin has put a more comprehensive Q&A about issues concerning the status of women to the three main parties. When we get a reply, we will publish that too.

EU too slow to stop modern slavery, says report

The Centre for Social Justice published its second report on Modern Slavery last week, written by Fiona Cunningham, a former adviser to the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Read the report here: http://bit.ly/1bkK1pX

It warns that the pace of progress in the fight against modern slavery across the EU has been too slow, and that far more needs to be done by law enforcement across Europe to curb the appalling trade in human lives masterminded by OCGs. Existing agencies are often relentless in their pursuit of drug traffickers, but accord human trafficking much lower priority.

Featured charity: Refuge

Refuge is a domestic violence charity that opened the very first domestic violence refuges in the world in the 1970s. We are happy to promote their Bold is Beautiful fundraising venture in May.

Long term supporters of Refuge, Benefit Cosmetics is embarking on a new project to help empower women and girls everywhere, one brow wax at a time, by launching the Bold is Beautiful project!

Go to any Benefit store for a Brow Wax in May 2015 and 100% of Benefit's profits of the Brow Wax will go to charities supporting women and girls - Refuge and Look Good Feel Better. Start booking your Brow Wax now and get a full size Gimme Brow (RRP £18.50) absolutely FREE with any Benefit Brow Wax in May 2015.

And why not join us for the Bold is Beautiful March on Sunday, 10th May in London. Register here, make your £10 donation and get free Benefit deluxe samples and goodies.

Since 1976, Benefit believe that women are at their most beautiful when they feel strong and confident. With the launch of the Bold is Beautiful project, Benefit are spreading that philosophy beyond the beauty counter.

Join in today!

Friendly reminder - member dues are now due

For members of Zonta Club of London II, your membership fees for 2015-2016 are now due, with the deadline being 22 May. They are £135.

You can pay directly into our account as follows:

NatWest
Zonta Club of London II
Sort: 56-00-31
Account No. 69636168

Social media

We have over 600 likes on our Facebook page, 60 Twitter followers and a handful of LinkedIn followers.

The Zonta London II Facebook page has been in existence for a number of years now and well done to the Club and member Susan Tanner who succeeded overwhelmingly in getting so many likes.

Our Twitter and LinkedIn pages are very new by comparison and we would like to use our LinkedIn page, in particular, to promote professional development and career articles of interest to women. Please follow our page so we can develop a useful professional hub for women.

Simply click the links below to follow our pages.

Facebook

Twitter

Website