Saturday
10th March sees yet another celebration of
International
Women's Day.
Arun International Women's Day Group was founded 12 years
ago to
celebrate this very important occasion, by Cleo Matthews
and a dedicated
team including Mary Read, Paloma King, and Monicka Smith
who sadly
passed away in January 2006.
Over
the years, the group has gone from strength to strength
arranging
some wonderful celebratory days. This year will be no
exception, on
offer for women and girls is singing, dancing and chanting
from many
nations. Thanks to a grant towards the cost of materials
from West
Sussex County Council, there will also be art and craft
activities. This
years event will be at The Tamarisk Centre, Beach Road,
Littlehampton, from
10am-4pm where there will be subsidised refreshments,
with an equally
international flavour as the dancing. There will be a
welcome in as many
different languages as possible at the opening, an opportunity
for
anyone who would like to contribute.
Not only will there be activities to enjoy this year,
but the day will
also include talks and workshops to encourage women to
understand the
importance of equality and having a strong female voice
in the
community. It is important for women to not only celebrate
the day, but
to understand and learn what International Women's Day
is about.
The day will be started with an opening speech by 'Annabell'
from Circle
of The Old Ways in Church Street, Littlehampton. Annabell
is the
spiritual element within Circle of The Old Ways, and as
well as helping
people find their peace and confidence, one of her main
interests is
empowering females. She says' “Women need to find
their feminine power
and stand up and speak in the community. All around the
world women are
beginning to find this strength, and by so doing, bring
the female
stance to what has become a very male dominated world.
It is important
for people to understand that men and women both have
important
abilities to offer, but it needs to be in balance. Too
many women assume
that to be strong they have to emanate men, this is not
the case. For a
peaceful and just world, it is important to have the balance
-
yin and yang.
The motto for the group is, 'Some of us are Mothers, all
of us are
Daughters, together we are Sisters. On Saturday 10th March,
it is
intended that as 'Sisters', it will be an enjoyable and
educational day.
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