WOW Fair 2008 - Event Update
We would like to thank everybody who took part in the WOW Fair 2008 on Thursday 21st August, at The Light House, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton. The event was a huge success and was attended by 137 people who participated in workshops, activities and browsed community stands from 21 different organisations from across Wolverhampton.
The organisations who displayed stands at the fair were as follows:
1) Wolverhampton Women's Wellbeing Centre
2) The Haven Wolverhampton
3) V Involved
4) Wolverhampton Stop Smoking Group
5) The Terrence Higgins Trust
6) Pertemps People Development Group
7) ASAN Green Works (All Saints Area)
8) Herbalife
9) Wolverhampton Network Consortium
10) Contraception and Sexual Health Centre
11) Chlamydia Screening
12) Job Change
13) YWCA
14) Trinity Training
15) Birmingham County Football Association
16) Compton Hospice
17) Compton Hospice Lottery
18) Nehemiah Housing / Bromford Housing
19) Crown Prosecution Service
20) Bilston Community Trust
21) Crown Prosecution service
22) Gender Matters
23) Tenancy Sustainment Team Wolverhampton City Council
As well as community stands a number of activities were on display throughout the day for people to participate in. Henna, nail painting, reflexology and massage and reiki were extremely popular with queues for the stands forming throughout the day. We also had a visit from Flossy a PAT (Pets as Therapy) dog who proved extremely popular with our younger visitors.
The fair also included a children's area from 2.30pm until 4.30pm which included face painting, arts and crafts and the chance to play on the Nintendo Wii. The children's area was coordinated by 2 qualified youth workers who looked after a total of 17 children.
WOW would like to say a big thank you to everybody who made the activities extremely popular and donated their time to help make the fair a success.
A big thank to everybody who bought stands, displays and carried out various activities throughout the event. We hope that you found the day fun, informative and a chance to network with various other organisations.
The workshops at the Fair included confidence building, self defence, belly dancing and Bollywood dancing. The dancing workshops particularly were very popular with between 10 and 20 people attending each session.
The fair was an opportunity not just for organisations to network but for women and their children to relax, learn and enjoy a day which was tailored just for them. WOW is about empowering women and making their voices heard. In order to achieve this women were approached and asked for their thoughts and their contribution. The ‘Change One Thing' survey asked women what one thing they would like to change in order to improve the lives of women in Wolverhampton - and as a reward for taking part in the survey, participants were automatically entered in a prize draw to win goodies including House of Fraser vouchers, a free game of bowling and a bottle of Champagne to name a few. It is the intention of WOW to collate the results of the survey and produce a report on the thoughts the women of Wolverhampton have about their City. A total of 127 people participated in the winners of the prize draw will also be notified by telephone or email.
The WOW Fair was an exciting and enjoyable event - below are some of the comments left by visitors;
• Very informative fair - Hope to join you next year!
• Great networking
• Very interesting and useful to meet contacts with other service providers and members of the public
• Really enjoyed the day, plenty of information and positive people
• More events like this please!
• Wonderful experience, fabulous facilities, organised extremely well - felt like a night out! Thank you!
• Fabulous - Well Done!
WOW also gained 13 new members at the Fair. By becoming a member of WOW individuals and well as organisations are given the opportunity to communicate, advertise and liaise with other WOW members through the WOW website.
If you are not a member of WOW and would like to join please visit www.wowonline.org.uk where you can download a membership form and add your details to the website. You will receive regular email updates of various events around Wolverhampton and be provided with the opportunity to communicate details of your events to WOW.
Thank you to everyone who attended the WOW Summer Fair 2008. We will be compiling a newsletter due for publication in September focusing on Women's issues in Wolverhampton. If you would like to supply a brief article for the newsletter - no more than 350 words, then please send your articles to info@wowonline.org.uk.
To see photographs from the fair please click the following link http://www.flickr.com/photos/29847799@N08/show/
Thank you again to everyone who participated, attended or helped out with the fair. We look forward to seeing you at the next one.
WOW Team