WISH Christmas Newsletter 2022

WISH Christmas News 2022!

A big festive welcome everyone to this Christmas newsletter from WISH and Season’s Greetings to one and all!

I can hardly believe that it’s almost Christmas time once again and, that I’ve been in post for almost a year, time really does fly when you’re having fun!

As the year-end approaches it feels appropriate to reflect on the past year and to think about the challenges ahead…

Starting with reflections, well, it’s been an incredibly positive year. An amazing array of in-person events have been hosted by our 10 fantastic Regional Boards, from the launch of WISH Scotland in Glasgow to the ‘Fierce Conversations’ event in North Wales and so many others! Our online offer has also seen a huge take-up, for example earlier in the year over 200 attended our two menopause events hosted by the Yorkshire and Humber Region!  

Our membership has continued to grow and our following though social media platforms has almost doubled. We’ve been a partner in an exciting piece of gender research, the XX Factor. Our voice and mission has been heard through the housing sector press, national conferences and sector bodies. And we have partnered and collaborated with the Chartered Institute of Housing to hold powerful networking events aligned to CIH conferences in the North West, Scotland, the South West and South East.

We’ve updated and improved our membership offer, we’ve worked on improvements to our website and our Jobs Board and we’ve made progress on our equality, diversity and inclusion journey.

Without doubt there will be challenges ahead, it’s going to be tough across  the housing sector for the next few years, with the rent caps, mould issues and ongoing building safety requirements. All of these will have an effect on the financial capacity of our members to renew their membership, and it’s now more than ever that our members will need to see the value of their membership. They will need to understand how investing in networking opportunities for their people brings tangible benefits to the organisation. The evidence is that this investment has a positive return; women who engage in and build an external network are happier and healthier and they bring this  positivity back to the workplace. Now, more than ever is the time to invest in networking opportunities!

Looking ahead; our WISH annual survey has just been launched and the results  will not only shape our event offer but also our campaign priorities. Please can I take this opportunity to urge everyone, members and non-members alike, to complete it. It will only take approximately 10 minutes of your time. Click here to view the survey.

And it’s with sadness and huge thanks that in January we will say goodbye to our wonderful Chair, Debra Constance, Debra was one of our founders and has been Chair since we established WISH as a CIC (Community Investment Company) in 2019. It will be so hard to replace Debra’s commitment, positivity and enthusiasm but we wish her well in her retirement and as I write we are on with the recruitment for her replacement.

So, have a wonderful festive season everyone and I look forward to spending more time across our regions in 2023!  

Read the full WISH Christmas Newsletter 2022 here..

https://mailchi.mp/wishgb.co.uk/wish-christmas-news-9253389