1968

•  Women’s Group on Public Welfare (Northern Ireland) formed with the assistance of the Northern Ireland Council for Social Services (NICSS).

1975

• Change of name to Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland.
• Co-ordination of events in Northern Ireland for International Women’s Year.
•  Seminar, “Equality, Development, Education and Peace”, held in Queen’s Elms Hall of Residence, Queen’sUniversity,Belfast.
• Peace Rally at BelfastCity Hall.
• Chairman, Mrs Nan Douglass, was a Northern Ireland representative at Women’s Silver Jubilee Appeal Committee, which met each month in BuckinghamPalace under the chairmanship of Princess Anne.
• Women’s Forum acquired its own office at 7 Elmwood Avenue, Belfast.  This was subsequently given up. 
• Provided equipment and practical help for the first Hostel for Battered Wives in Belfast, which was set up by Belfast  Women’s Aid Society.

1989

• Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland, given representation on the Women’s National Commission (WNC)
• Mrs Iris Colvin appointed as our first representative to the WNC.
• Visit to European Parliament, Courts of Justice in Luxembourg, to the buildings and sessions in Parliament at Brussels and Strassbourg, organised by Mrs Rita Soye.
• Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform (NIWEP) set up, with three representatives from Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland, on the Core Group.
• Lisburn Standing Conference established.

1998

• Publication and distribution of a leaflet in support of the Agreement – from a woman’s perspective – “The Agreement – What’s in it for Women?”
• A conference, “Women Shaping the Future”, was set up by Mrs Iris Colvin, at the request of Baroness Denton. This was supported by Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland.
• Represented by Dr Barbara Erwin, Chairman, and Miss Rosemary Rainey, Vice-Chairman, at the Vital Voices  Conference: “Women in Democracy” in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast.
• Dr Barbara Erwin appointed to the Parades Commission.
• Representatives met with Fiona Reynolds, Head of Women’s Unit in the Cabinet Office.
• Women in the North (WIN) Working Group established and funding obtained from the “Yes” Campaign.
• Constitution completely revised and adopted at A.G.M.
• New position of Honorary Secretary introduced.
• Mission Statement – “Women in Harmony – Achieving Change” – adopted.
• Involvement in the work of setting up Belfast Well Woman Clinic.

1999

• Launch of WIN Document on steps of Parliament Buildings, Stormont on 8th March, which was International Women’s Day.
• Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland, and Women Together for Peace hosted the “Women at the Millennium” Conference at StranmillisUniversityCollege. 
• Women’s Forum facilitated preparation of the Northern Ireland Report.
• WNC re-organised, resulting in loss on the Executive Committee of a representative from Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland.
• Arrangement made re. use of office and facilities at the Women Together premises.
• Seminar: WIN, which resulted in the new nomenclature “Northern Ireland Women’s Regional Assembly”.
• New category of “Honorary Member” introduced at the A.G.M.

2000

• Officers of Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland, met with several MLAs at Stormont re. WIN.
• Inaugural meeting of Women’s Regional Consultative Forum in Dungannon on Friday, 24th November.

2002   

•  Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland established a new postal address:
   Women’s Forum, Northern Ireland
   P.O. Box 135
   Belfast
   BT5 5WA
• The Officers attended a Conference of the Women’s National Commission held in the Chambers of the Lord Provost in Glasgow and had the opportunity to discuss Northern Ireland issues with the Chairman, Baroness Crawley.
• Representatives attended a meeting with Susan Atkins of the Women’s Unit of the Government of the United Kingdom at the Equality Commission in Belfast.
• Mrs. Ruth Graham and Miss Rosemary Rainey attended the meeting of the Women’s Regional Consultative Forum in Tullylagan Country House Hotel, Cookstown.
• The Chairman, Mrs. Ruth Graham, met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at a Garden Party held in honour of the Queen’s Jubilee Visit, at Hillsborough Castle.
• Members of the Executive Committee attended a Reception, hosted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, at Hillsborough Castle to pay tribute to Women in the Community.
• 2004               
• “Fair Employment in Northern Ireland – A generation On “     Attended by Maggy Hobson in the Equality Commission

2005                 

• Several representatives attended a seminar, “Gender in The New Europe”  in the Waterfront Hall.  This was organised by N.A.W.O and W.N.C                          
• Miss Rosemary Rainey attended “The Review of Public Administration Conference in The Stormont Hotel                                      
• Mrs Hazel Holmlund attended the Mayoral Reception for Women in the ColeraineBorough                                                                                        
• Women’s Forum Northern Ireland 30^th Anniversary Luncheon in The Edge, Laganbank Road, Belfast.  Guest Speaker, Baroness May Blood.                       
• Mrs Iris Colvin attended The Celebration of the Life of the late Dr.Mo Mowlam at HillsboroughCastle.                                               
• Mrs Anne King represented us on “The Gender Equality Unit Panel”  OFMDFM

2006                

• Miss Rosemary Rainey and Mrs Maggy Hobson attended the W.N.C. seminar “Women’s Internship Programme” at the Equality Commission.
• Miss Rosemary Rainey attended the seminar “Trafficking of Women” to celebrate International Women’s Day, at the Human Rights Commission.
• Mrs Maggy Hobson attended the seminar “Pensions – Bridging the

            Gender Gap” at Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

• The Chairman made representation to the Minister, D.S.D. re: “The Report: The Review Group on Women’s Organisations Providing Support and Services to Disadvantaged Areas.”
• Mrs Carol Bingham attended The British Red Cross Seminar in Parliament Buildings, Stormont.
• Miss Rosemary Rainey addressed those attending the Retirement Event for Dr Barbara Erwin at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, hosted by the Speaker, Eileen Bell.
• Mrs Maggy Hobson and Miss Rosemary Rainey attended Q.U.B. Law Department for “Review of The Role of the Equality Commission on the Effectiveness of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

   2007

•  My Group celebration at the Baby Grand attended by Mrs Paddy Skates, Mrs Carol Bingham, Miss Rosemary Rainey and Mrs Maggie Hobson.

• Many members of the Forum attended the AGM of UNIFEM on 29th April.
  
• Mrs Paddy Skates and Mrs Carol Bingham were guests at the Federation of Women's Institutes of NI Good Relations Seminar at the Beechlawns Hotel.
• Betty Martin and Paddy Skates attended the launch of Presbyterian Women at Assembly Buildings on 1st May.
• The Joint Consultative Forum on Education was attended by Paddy Skates and Rosemary Rainey.
• Chairman Paddy Skates attended the BPW lunch and the QWG Dinner in June.
• On the 19th of June Gingerbread organised a conference, Turning Possibilities into Realities where employers spoke of schemes to help single parents into employment. This was attended by Paddy Skates.
• The institute of Governance at Queens organised tho events in June, Bill of Rights and Women, what comes next? and Violence Against Women Roundtable hosted by Kristina Miccio from New York. Paddy Skates attended both joined by Rosemary Rainey for the Roundtable discussion.
• The Peace by Piece Conference was one of the largest events for the women's sector in many years. Opened by Joanna Lumley  there were many excellent speakers both from home and abroad. Mrs Paddy Skates attended on all three days joined by Mrs Hazel Holmlund and Mrs Mahvash Graham for part of the conference. All agreed that it was an excellent conference and a chance to meet a wide variety of women from around the world.
  

• Friday 3rd October was a very special day as the 40th Anniversary Dinner of Women's Forum NI was held in the Lord Mayor's Parlour. Our thanks to the Lord Mayor Councillor Tom Hartley who hosted the evening and proposed the toast to the Forum and also to the former Lord Mayor Councillor Jim Rogers who said grace before dinner. Our special guest speaker was Christine Lady Eames and as well as enjoying dinner members and friends shared the special anniversary cake supplied by Mrs Iris Colvin and cut by Mrs Isobel Holmes our first honorary member and past Chairman. Everyone enjoyed the evening and we look forward to the next 40 years.

• During October The Chairman attended ;
• A Consumer Council evening to discuss the rising cost of living.
• The launch of a DVD and paper entitled Women and the Conflict.
• A meeting with WNC commissioner Bronagh Hinds.
• An information evening on Delivering the Bamford Vision, a reply was sent by WFNI to this consultation document.

• On 12th Nov the Chairman, June Meenagh Smartt and Rosemary Rainey attended the Equality Commission Conference "Every Child an Equal Child". This excellent conference was discussed at the full Forum meeting at the end of Nov.

•  The Chair Paddy Skates attended the NIWEP conference Engaging With Europe on Gender Equality

• The Chairman attended the Gender Advisory Panel at Castle Buildings on 13th Jan.
• On 28th Jan the WRDA organised a meeting with members of the Equality Commission which was attended by the Chairman.
• The Joint Consultative Forum, Education Sector met on 12th Feb. The Chair Paddy Skates and Rosemary Rainey attended.
• 10th March members attended the Spring Meeting of the Queen's Women Graduates to hear Prof George Bain speak on "The Bain Report 2 years on "
• WRCP held a meeting in the Equality Commission to launch a report Working in the Community: the contribution of Women's Centers to their local communities". Jane Morris spoke about women and public appointments. Paddy Skates and Rosemary Rainey attended.
• 2nd April Paddy Skates attended the introductory meeting of Liberation set up by the NUS and USI to help students tackle and address diversity issues.
• 7th April a sub group met with a representative from the office of the commissioner for public appointments to discuss the consultation document on women in public appointments, a reply to this document was sent on behalf of WFNI.
• 20th April Hazel Holmlund and Paddy Skates attended the conference of the NIHRC. The speakers on the topic of asylum seekers were excellent with a good balance provided by the speaker from the UK Borders agency,an immigration Judge, researchers into the detention of asylum seekers and the director of Migrants Rights Network but the star speaker was undoubtedly Shami Chakrabarti the Director of Liberty.
• The annual meeting of Presbyterian Women was held on 7th May attended by Carol Bingham, Kathleen Rodgers Maureen Weir and Paddy Skates.
• The AGM, Lecture and Dinner of ATL was held at Malone House and attended by Rosemary Rainey Linda Dawson Paddy Skates and Marie Donnell in her capacity as Chair of SELB.
• The Joint Consultative Forum on Education held a special meeting to consider the Equality Impact Assessment of Transfer 2010 guidelines. There was found to be some vague wording which could make things difficult for both parents and school governors as they navigate their way through the new recommendations. Let us hope the needs of the individual children come before statistics or political points scoring. 
  
• QWG Annual Dinner guest speaker Prof Catherine Clinton.
• Unifem AGM speaker Dr Nazir Latif.
• BPW International Lunch guest speaker Dr Comfort Momoh.( For more information on these events see news page.)
• Barbara Savage attended the Belfast City Council disability awareness day focusing on deafness.
• The NI Rural Women's Network event, Farmers for Fairness in Europe, was attended by Isobel Holmes.
• June Meenagh Smartt attended a conference on health provision in the Wellington Park Hotel.

• Paddy Skates attended the first meeting of Gender Agenda to discuss Childcare Strategies for NI.
• Paddy Skates and Janette Thornton attended the Gender Advisory Panel in the Long Gallery Stormont on 11thSept.
• 23rd Sept. four members of the Gender Advisory Panel went before the committee of OFMDFM to give the Panel's views on the progress report on Implementing the Gender Equality Strategy, this meeting will be reported in Hansard.
• 29th Sept.Paddy Skates represented the Forum at a meeting to finalise the women's sector questions for the omnibus survey to be carried out on a cross section of the population.
• 10th Nov Rosemary, Maggy,Anne, Paddy, Hazel and her daughter Kathleen met with My Group and agreed to put a link to "Access to Benefits" on the website, we also learned that the site was getting an encouraging number of hits from many parts of the world.
• Friday 13th Nov Paddy Skates was invited to the 10th Anniversary of the Equality Commission and was delighted to meet and talk with The Princess Royal.
• 3rd Dec several members attended the NIWEP conference and launch of the Gender Monitoring Checklist on Women Peace and Security. Afterwards a reception was held in the City Hall to celebrate 20 years of NIWEP.
• 5th Dec Hazel attended the Federation of Townswomen's Guilds Carol Service.

• 11th Dec Paddy attended the Gender Advisory Panel meeting.

• Gender Advisory Panel Reference Group on the interim review of funding of the Women's Sector.Paddy agreed to join this group and at the first meeting (which she was unable to attend) she was one of four suggested to co-chair the future meetings. The four, Paddy Skates, Bronagh Hinds Eileen Bell and Liz Law met on27th Jan and 3rd Feb for prolonged discussions all agreed that a united front was needed across the Sector and that any of the 4 would be well qualified to chair. At the second meeting the role of the chair was discussed and then written up in a document by Bronagh. Paddy and Liz were suggested as co-chairs.
• A seminar on offshore renewable energy was attended by Hazel and Paddy 
  
• 21st Jan, the Forum was well represented at the WNC Conferencein the Holiday Inn,the upcoming session of the Committee on the Status of Women at the UN in New York was high on the agenda.
• The Gender Advisory Reference Group met on Monday 15th Feb.and Paddy and Liz Law were confirmed as co- chairs, they will meet with the Steering Group on 8th March and report to the next GARG meeting on 26th March.It is hoped to hold a number of events to gather information and ideas from the Sector, perhaps taking the "World Cafe" approach.
  
• The National Trustees of Townswomen's Guilds held a lunch in the City Hall Belfast on the 3rd March. Over 200 women from all over the British Isles were welcomed by Cllr Naomi Long MLA the Lord Mayor of Belfast. Among the visitors from across the water were Sue Smith the National Federation Chairman and Pauline Myers a member of the National Executive. Paddy Skates represented WFNI and Ethel Patterson represented the Federation of Womens Institutes.The guest speaker was Dame Mary Peters.Photographs of the event are on the News page.
• !0th March Rosemary Rainey and June Meenagh Smartt attended the launch of a report on School Based Experiences of Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. The report was commissioned by the Education Boards and The Staff Commission for Education and Library Boards.
• The Speaker held a St Patricks Celebration at Parliament Buildings attended by Paddy Skates and Carol Bingham for WFNI. Other members of the Forum also attended in diferent capacities. Pictures on News page.
  
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