Past Events

22nd September – Networking with Sue Tonks of Kintish Ltd.

On 22nd September, at one of our most well attended and highly successful events to date, 70 Members and Friends of W.I.S.H. enjoyed an evening of Networking, kindly hosted by Trowers & Hamlins.

First of all we were educated in the finer points of how to conquer those nerves and network effectively through an engaging, informative and highly entertaining presentation and practical demonstrations from Sue Tonks of Kintish Ltd., with a little help from her friend Gollum! After which we all had an opportunity to put the advice to the test in Trower’s fine reception room on the sixth floor of their offices.

Our thanks go to Sue and Trowers & Hamlins for their support of the evening and we look forward to seeing Sue’s advice put into practice at our next event.

Don’t forget to SHINE!

14th July 2011 – Networking Event

The WISH Board would like to thank Wendy Wilks and the MMS Team for hosting a very enjoyable event, it was well attended with over 60 members from London & South East Region.

Thank you to everyone who came along, it seems a great night was had by all! Please click here if you would like to download a guest list from the night.

24th May 2011 - Terry Fuller

WISH's latest event was a lively and interesting one. Attended by over 50 women from across the social housing sector they came to hear Terry Fuller from the Homes and Communities Agency speak on Leadership skills, CVs the good the bad and the ugly and then how to cheat at interviews. Terry known for his "tell it straight manner" did just that. The audience was regaled with amusing tales from Terry's own past experiences and engaged in lively debate with Terry at some stages throughout the evening when he shared some of his more controversial views!

Terry's presentation ended with brave WISH Chair Debra Constance agreeing to be interviewed by Terry. Fair play to Debra for bravery. There was a serious message to the evening though which was that women generally need to sell their skills and achievements better and to help the audience do that they were a given a unique insight (s) into the "Fuller Spin." On how to increase the chances of getting that job

Dee O Neil Business Development Manager at Wates said of the evening

"Terry was an inspiring speaker, shoots from the hit and gets you right in the eye. What I remember clearly was his quote 'Great Leaders are great learners' - it inspired me to go home and dust off all those management books which I bought and never read. Leaders lead from the front which means you need to know the challenges that are ahead and create a strategy to overcome them - who goes to battle without a plan!!!"

Caroline Dove, Project Director of HTA said; "It was a great evening last Tuesday and well done for organising another successful WISH event."

Terry enjoys a well earned glass of wine with Elaine Taylor from L&Q and WISH Board Member Ann Lander after his Presentation.

Terry in full flow.

Barbara Thorndick asks Terry a question.

Brighton 2011 - Another great success!

A write up from one of our Board members Elaine Allen:

It went really well. I really enjoyed it and I think so did everyone else. There seemed to be a good turn out and people got there early. When I arrived it was positively "heaving" with women plus one man from John Rowan who was later joined by a colleague. In fact, the venue seemed too small at first for all the bodies. I was doing a lot of breathing in, trying to make myself smaller (!). As usual, the atmosphere was great, chatty and relaxed.

One person made a comment that WISH could, perhaps, be more focused on the business networking side but I think it is fine as it is - people can make of it what they will. However, I do think that when our invites are sent out, people should be reminded to bring their business cards.

Wish Event 17th February 2011

WISH held another successful event at the Slug and Lettuce Waterloo on 17th February 2011.

Over 40 WISH members and supporters packed into the function room to hear Helen Sanson and Ian Pope from the Tower hamlets Education Business Partnership talk about the inspiring and innovative work they undertake with young people in one of London's most deprived boroughs.

Unemployment in Tower hamlets is at 13% and rising while the national average is 3%, in addition 66% of children have free school meals.

Many of the young people in TH derive from 2nd and 3rd generation unemployed. Coupled with language barriers at home, many struggle at school and suffer from POVERTY OF ASPIRATION. Many students leave school with little or no aspirations for the future. Helen explained that by conversing with successful volunteers from the business world, students learn that success is not beyond their reach and gain valuable insight into the skills and behaviours required to lead healthy and successful lives.

To see a copy of Helens presentation please click here (Power Point).

Jessica Taylor from Trowers and Hamlins solicitors explained how supportive Trowers are of many of the EBP projects and how she and her fellow partners had themselves been inspired and motivated by the young people they had met.

There are a number of volunteering opportunities for individuals and companies through the Education Business Partnership and if you feel that you or your company would like to become involved please see this leaflet (Word Docx) which gives further details.

The evening ended with drinks and networking.

WISH wonders – 'Is our house in order?' October 2010

READ ABOUT WISH’S HIGHEST PROFILE EVENT EVER.....

Over 80 members and guests of WISH recently got together for WISH’s first ever panel discussion.  A distinguished group of experts from the housing sector debated how to attract, promote and retain women in the affordable housing/construction sector, and the good news is that we are certainly getting there.

With questions on the night ranging from whether lack of confidence holds women back to do we need more women in the sector and does that glass ceiling still exist, the panel had their work cut out for them.

The panel on the night comprised:

Cathy Deplessis, Chief Executive of Lambeth Living
Paul Drechsler, Chairman and Chief Executive of Wates
Neil Hadden, Group Chief Executive, Genesis Housing Group
Charmaine Young CBE, Regeneration Director, St George plc

All of whom have risen to the top in their field and supported colleagues along the way. 

THE PANEL ON THE EVENING

A number of key themes emerged from the evening and perhaps the most encouraging was that the panel truly believed that with the right talent, motivation and self belief women in the sector could achieve anything.
 
In addition there was a general recognition that we need to do more to encourage women to join our sector and promote the huge range of opportunities that lie within it.

Charmaine Young compared the sector to the Police which historically had a huge problem recruiting women until the appearance of ‘The Bill’ on our television, which had a positive impact on female recruitment levels.  She challenged the floor to come up with a comparable alternative for the affordable housing/construction sector because the best role model she could think of was ‘Bob the Builder’!

DELEGATES ENJOYING THE EVENING-WERE THEY LAUGHING AT CHARMAINE’S BOB THE BUILDER EXAMPLE?

Confidence was another area that prompted a lot of discussion and the panel encouraged women to look at ways to increase their confidence such as mentoring.  And fundamental to the sectors future success was the need to influence education choices made by young women and to ensure that Careers Advisors are equipped with information about the variety of roles within the industry.

QUESTION TIME FROM THE FLOOR

Many of the responses on the night supported WISH’s survey conducted prior to the event – which showed that almost three quarters of those that responded joined the sector by chance.  However, on a positive note 75 per cent of respondents thought the sector is getting better at doing more to encourage women to join and stay. To read the full results of our survey please click the link here.

The challenge still remains though for those women who join and stay to be able to make it to the top.

Quotes from those attending on he night included

“The topic was current and it was interesting listening to people’s views on the subject especially Paul Drechsler.”

“I thought the event on the 23rd was the best event I have attended to date.”

“All in all a very good night. It would have been nice to have a bit more time for questions, comments from the floor instead of justone.”

For a full list of attendees on the 23rd click here.

WISH Showcases at Brighton Housing Conference

In the image to the right: (L – R) Debra Constance, Nicola Dibb, Jacqui Esimaje and Rebecca Pelling at the WISH lunchtime event Brighton Housing Conference 2010.

WISH were please to host a lunch time event at the CIH Brighton Conference. Existing and potential new members networked and chatted over a glass of wine and used this as an opportunity to find out about the exciting work that WISH undertakes. Our thanks go to Osborne and Tribal for sponsoring the event.

WISH Evening 18^th March 2010

WISH Members attend enlightening event at the Slug and Lettuce Waterloo on 18th March.

On 18th March 2010 60 WISH members heard an enlightening and entertaining speech from Ian Gray of Thomas Gray Associates on CV writing and interview techniques. This session was useful for those looking for a new challenge and those who recruit in their roles.Our thanks goes to Ian Gray. members also enjoyed a networking event after Ian's speech.

Click here to see a list of all the people who attended this event.

WISH Evening 3^rd November 2009

Click here to see a list of all the people who attended this WISH event.

We had another excellent evening networking event on Tuesday 3rd November at the Slug and Lettuce, Waterloo.  Many thanks especially to Samantha Miller from the Housing Diversity Network who gave a very interesting presentation on mentoring – especially aimed at women in the social housing and construction sectors.  The presentation sparked a good debate and certainly gave many of us there food for thought!

A copy of Samantha's presentation is attached below for downloading in pdf format:

We were pleased to see a lot of new faces at the event and several people became members on the night.  We would be delighted to have even more supporters, so if you haven’t taken the plunge and subscribed – why not do so today?!  

Click here to view some the comments we received from members after the event.

WISH Evening 14^th July 2009

Thanks to everyone who attended our event in the City on 14 July. It was great to meet so many of our new members.

Click here to see a list of all the people who attended this WISH event.

Thanks especially to our hosts Charles Russell LLP and to our speaker, Katie Day, from Katie Day Consulting, who gave an interractive and fun presentation on the Do's and Don'ts of networking successfully.

Katie has kindly agreed to share her notes with us. These are downloadable as a .pdf - please click here. Katie's contact details are:

Katie Day Consulting Limited
Tel 0845 458 3105
Mobile 07974 825 345
www.katieday.com
www.katiedayhealth.co.uk
Skype Katieday46

Here is a comment from the event:

This was my first WISH event and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The venue was amazing as were the refreshments.  The topic of the evening was Do's and Don't of networking which was extremely well delivered and useful.  Well done to the organisers and I am very much looking forward to the next.
Angie Hooper, development manager at Moat

Our next WISH event is likely to take place around Christmas time. Keep an eye on the WISH website where we will publish details shortly.

WISH Evening 4^th March 2009

WISH event at Drakes Hotel in Brighton on Wednesday 4 March 2009

Click here to view the attendees for this event.

Thank you from the WISH Board to everyone who attended our networking drinks and lunch reception in Brighton.  A special thanks to Jacqui Esimaje and the Tribal Group for their fantastic support in sponsoring and hosting the event.

WISH Evening 23^rd October 2008

WISH evening on Thursday 23 October at the offices of Affinity Sutton in More London, Tooley Street, London SE1 2DA

Click here to view the attendees for this event.

Thanks from the WISH Board to all of you who attended this event at the beautiful riverside offices of Affinity Sutton. Thank you to Lisa Louis of Affinity Sutton for hosting this well-attended event.

Alison Hadden, group chief executive of Paradigm Housing Group, gave a delightful talk about the challenges of women balancing busy high-flying careers with equally busy home lives. Thank you Alison!

Here is a quote from one of the WISH members who attended the event:

I wanted to thank you for the event last night, which was my first and definitely not my last! I really enjoyed it and caught up with some old friends that I haven't seen for years. Wendy Charlton, LL Partner, Watkins Gray International LLP .

WISH Evening 31^st July 2008

Click here to view the attendees for this event.

Thank you to everyone who attended this popular event in the middle of summer. We enjoyed another successful evening in a new venue, The Hop Cellars at London Bridge, and our highest attended event to date.

We were delighted to welcome Katie Day, an image consultant,from Katie Day Consulting Limited, who addressed the WISH group on "personal branding" in the workplace and got us all thinking about what we wear to the office, what it says about us and how others view us!

Feedback from WISH members who attended was great! Here are some quotes:

I really enjoyed the evening last Thursday for the networking and social contacts. I thought the speaker was interesting and her marketing information was impressive and eye catching!

Just to ask you to relay my thanks to Nicola and Debra for an excellent evening

Great evening as ever. Liked the location. The speaker was excellent, although we seemed to have run out of time which was a shame.

Well done ladies for putting together yet another enjoyable & informative event!
I thought the schools DVD was very will targeted. I know how difficult it can be to engage with school kids, from a recent school project I was involved with!
The speaker was good & very informative (even though I don't intend to throw out my 4 inch heels just yet!).  Food, drinks & location spot on as usual.

I very much enjoyed the WISH meeting. A great opportunity to meet new people and catch up with a few others that I haven't seen for a long time. The speaker was great. I think I already "knew" what she was saying but somehow she made it all completely logical and clarified the psychological  basis of why we need to take such care with what we wear. Venue and catering were excellent.

Thursday was my first WISH event and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The company was great, it was good to have an opportunity to network with people that I wouldn't normally meet and particularly to make some contacts within the construction industry. Everyone was really friendly.

I enjoyed last Thursday's meeting very much. The venue was easy to reach and find.  It was useful to meet with other like minded women keen to progress in their chosen field and make the most of the skills and attributes we possess.  I found Kate's presentation was both informative and fun and I could have listened to her for longer.  Hopefully I will continue to put into place some of the pointers she gave us, starting by having paid attention to what I am wearing today at work.

The evening was extremely well organised as always Great to have updates on the website and board and everyone felt able to contribute. Good mix of people. Speaker was very entertaining and thought provoking. Thanks to Nicola and Debbie for organising.

I found the whole event very interesting and it was most inspiring to meet so many successful female colleagues. I found Katie's presentation most thought provoking and will be more aware of how I put myself together in terms of hair, clothing, shoes and accessories, as I didn't consciously appreciate the impact of the detail, which Katie graphically showed in her demonstration.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Nicola and Debra for a fantastic event.

WISH Evening 3^rd April 2008, International Hotel, St Martins Lane

Click here to view the attendees for this event.

• Website Update
• List of members
• Schools Project
  • Thanks to the participants: Sally Ingham –JLP, Rebecca Pelling and Samantha Bruckland – Pellings, Maggie McCann –Orbit, Maxine Gordon- Hillside Housing, Elaine Allen –Perrins, Louise Reddin, Dominion, Michelle Minogue -Baily Garner, Syreeta Robinson Gayle, Paula Aldridge Wates, Gayle Weale-John Rowan and Partners
  • Ran through details of the DVD and the ‘Timeline’ Presentation
  • Advised new date for the presentation at Eltham Hill Technical College for Girls -22 May 2008
• Kathy Ross advised that their Greenwich Careers in Action was being run 14th– 15th May and encouraged WISH to be involved
• Setting up of a WISH Board- appeal for members
• Appeal for sponsorship -some organisations have already pledged money to support this evening and the Schools Project
• Details of the next event and ideas for speakers

Points raised in general discussion included:

• Use of a subscription mechanism for the WISH evenings or ‘pay on arrival’ - this would be more of a personal contribution opposed to a Company cost
• Advertising job vancancies on the Website- possible funding route
• Message Board or Forum facility on the website
• Networking evenings should be quarterly
• Business Plan (for 12 months) required to help Members attract funding from their respective Organisations
• Future topics for Speakers suggested: mentoring and image consultancy

Close
Thanks to the Sponsors: Osborne, Wates, Pellings, Crest Nicholson, John Laing Partnership (Schools Project), Perrins (Schools Project) and Dominion Housing Group

WISH Evening 26th September 2007

We were delighted that Barbara Thorndick, Chief Executive of West Kent Housing Association was able to join us at this event, she told us about her career to date, the challenges she faced and the skills needed to make a success of working at a high level in Social Housing. Listed below are the key messages we took away from Barbara’s speech: Be persistent and have belief in yourself Look for opportunities to 'shine' and do not be afraid to push yourself forward even in situations you know will be challenging for you Identify some male 'Champions' and work with them to understand their drivers and approaches It is not what you know, but who you know Embrace opportunities to do training at all levels and at all times to improve your skills Have good relationships with people and 'get on' with them - being open and approachable Develop the 'emotional intelligence' that distinguishes the way men and women operate in the workplace (eg. identify the differences in the way we communicate and use it to your advantage) Don’t be afraid to challenge (male) colleagues if you think they are being difficult or are in the wrong Barbara’s defining moment: After being encouraged by a male colleague and then joining a Regional Committee, Barbara put herself forward to become chair and was eventually elected as such

WISH Evening 28^th February 2007

I really enjoyed the evening. It is relaxed and everyone is friendly so networking is easy in that environment. I think it is very good for networking in an informal way (which is probably the best kind of networking).

Possible one hour debating session to start the evening off. Topic of first session could be “What is the purpose of WISH and what do we want the purpose to be”

Relatively informal evening. Good for catching up with existing contacts and making new connections. Organisers welcomed newcomers like me and connected people.

Really enjoyable and useful to meet variety of women from different parts of the industry.

I enjoyed meeting people I hadn’t met before and exchanging views on the work we do. There is a far greater variety of women and what women do now in the housing business than when I started and so it was interesting and useful to meet and find out what they are doing and what they want to do in the future. Good place for looking for people to work with in the future.

Red wine went down very well!

Very good service and attention and delicious food especially at the last one.

Easy to get to and nice ambiance. Liked the canapés and the attitude of the staff. I am at the stage where I prefer to catch up with what people are doing professionally and socially in a relaxed atmosphere. I made some new contacts.

Lovely – really liked the prawns!

I was sorry to arrive a bit late but very much enjoyed the evening. I did manage to meet some new people and felt overall it was a great success.

Well located venue and easy to move around and chat to people in a comfortable environment.

A good range of drinks and refreshments. The food catered for all tastes and came freshly served.

It maybe an idea to introduce specific evening events with a theme, which could cover updating on professional knowledge etc.

I enjoyed the evening very much, and it was a great opportunity to meet other women and will certainly attend future events.

It is just the right balance of social atmosphere and yet also an opportunity to network and keep up with colleagues and meet new ones.