It was our charity's biennual weekend away on 20th - 22nd September . As a charity working across the UK and Ireland, all our Trustee meetings take place online, with our Trustees geographically spread out. Every two years, we gather together in one place to celebrate our work, do strategic planning, conduct the year's AGM, and take time for sisterhood and connection. This year we met in Whitstable, Kent, with the Hotel Continental providing wonderful hosptality for our time together.
Our AGM and Annual Report related to our charity's work from April 2023 through to the end of March 2024. While we have done lots of things since that time, that time period was the focus of our reporting and AGM. We gathered on the Friday evening, though an urgent situation meant that our Trustee Henu was sadly unable to be part of the weekend. After some slight accomodation failures(!), we ensured everyone was up to date with our recently updated tech processes and then had joyous conversation over a delicious Indian meal (Ebun's first ever Indian takeaway!).
The next morning, we gathered for breakfast and then had our AGM and Board meeting. It was incredible to see how much we have achieved (our Impact Report for the period can be found HERE and our Annual Report is available HERE). The highlights included that we have now provided over 14,500 Own My Story journals for women to participate in Own My Life, the ongoing growth of our work, and the beautiful stories of transformation that women share with us about their experiences of Own My Life.
At the end of the Trustee meeting, our lovely Trustee Louise resigned from her role, as she embarks on a new adventure; training as a primary school teacher. Louise has been an incredible resource to the charity. As a communications specialist, she has helped us develop our Comms Strategy and has been a source of wisdom as our work has grown. She joined us as a Trustee in August 2020 and we are grateful for the time and resources she has invested in Own My Life over the last four years. We were so proud of her completing the London Classics this year, to raise much needed funds for our work (you can sponsor her HERE).
After a delicious lunch, some of our group went on a lovely beach walk, while others took time to rest, before a couple of hours spent building Trustee familiarity with new organisational tools we have been working on over the last year. The evening was spent with various opportunities to eat, chat and rest, with our CEO Natalie even managing an evening sea swim!
We are already halfway through the next annual reporting period, with lots of exciting developments and projects, but it was wonderful to stop and celebrate all we have achieved and the ways women, their children, and the services that support them are seeing transformation through the work we do.
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