Sign up for FC United's new Women's Football Academy

FC United’s new Women’s Football Academy for the 2015/16 season is holding an information day on Friday 10 April 2015 for those who are interested. 

Starting in September 2015, the FC United Women’s Football Academy is offering training and a two-year course of study for school leavers and players between 16-18 years old. Paul Bright, FC United Youth Academy Manager, said: “We are offering full-time football and education scholarships for successful entrants. Players will train on a daily basis and study towards a BTEC Level 2 or 3 in Sport, Business Studies or Media Studies. They will also play in the England Colleges league and cup competitions, with a clear pathway into the FC United women’s first team.”

Players will train, play and study at the brand new, purpose-built home of FC United of Manchester at Broadhurst Park in Moston. They will benefit from opportunities to improve technical and tactical ability alongside gaining recognised academic qualifications in order to improve their football CV, which can also be useful for potential USA scholarships. Paul Bright said: “The FC United Women’s Football Academy offers a unique opportunity for young women to further their football and education and be an important part of one of the leading supporter-owned football clubs in the country.”

Kate Ramsey, FC United board member with responsibility for women’s football, said: “The launch of this academy is a fantastic step and shows FC United’s commitment to the development of the women’s game. Since launching the women’s team in 2012, it has been our clear intention to provide opportunities for girls and young women to access football from local communities at a grassroots level. This programme will give girls and young women the opportunity to study and play and we are able to realise it as part of moving into our new facilities at Broadhurst Park in Moston.”

All abilities are welcome to come along to the information day on Friday 10 April 2015 from 12noon to 3pm to try out for a place in the new FC United Women’s Football Academy.

If you are 15-18 and would like to register for the information day click here.

For further information contact Paul Bright, FC United Youth Academy Manager at paulbright@fc-utd.co.uk or telephone 0161 273 8950.

Originally posted on this link here

Free Circular Firing Up Squad Workshops in Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham: Join Our Revolution for Women's Leadership!

Hello!

 

What advice would you give your fourteen year old self? and what does that have to do with helping yourself and other women onto success? Curious? this is your last chance to join one of our circular firing up squad workshops ahead of the General Election! 

 

These free workshops are your opportunity to support women standing for election on to success as well as develop your own leadership potential. These workshops are freefor women over the age of 14. Whatever your goal- whether in your career, in your campaigning or even in politics- these sessions are about how we can address the many different barriers holding women back, in the process learning from and supporting each other to succeed. You can find out more about the ethos of 'circular firing up' squads here and read about the experiences of other women in attending. 

These sessions are free to join but please RSVP so I can ensure we have enough materials for all participants at this event. There are sessions planned on the following dates in the following locations: 

• Bristol Thursday 19th March 7.30pm
• Greater Manchester Saturday 21st March UPDATE 4pm Manchester Town Hall
• Birmingham Yardley Tuesday 31st March 3.30pm 

If you would like to book your place at these events please reply to this email stating the location of the session you would like to join. I will then be in touch to confirm the venue and your place. 

 

Stella Creasy
Labour and Co-operative MP for Walthamstow on behalf of OBRUK

Use this link to RSVP

Introducing - The Mighty Heart Theatre

Love my hair and face and thunder calves.

I don’t love anything about myself.

I like being small but I want to be much thinner.

Compassion, compassion.

I love that I am smart. I love my brain.

Hello, we are Mighty Heart Theatre & these are some of the quotes taken from our anonymous surveys (of which we had over 100 responses) which have gone towards creating When I Feel Like Crap I Google Kim Kardashian Fat .

To give you a bit of context… last year over dinner a girlfriend of mine said “when I feel like crap I google Kim Kardashian fat” …after which my jaw hit the floor, I paused in awkward silence, laughed it off & then got out my phone & wrote it in my notes app. I knew that it was going to be a trigger for a new piece of work. I did not know what/how/when. Fast forward 4 months & we have complied a mountain of material from interviewing self-identifying women & conducting anonymous surveys!!

Creating this work has been a huge eye opener both as performers but most importantly as women. To quote one of our anonymous surveys “women are cruel sometimes. Women can be cruel”. Within this piece of theatre we do not claim to hold the answers, instead we’d like to share the stories & open up a conversation about the pressure of unattainable perfectionism & how this has seeped in to our culture.

We are also testing ourselves as performers. Certain aspects of the piece will unfold on the night with new material being used each performance to keep the work alive & to give a voice to as many of the stories as possible. It will be different every night! This as you can imagine is a flippin scary prospect as performers! Will it work? Who knows but we’re going to have fun trying it out!

We are so proud that we are presenting this work as part of Wonder Women Festival 2015. Without the urgency & deadline of this festival it’s quite likely that this piece would still not have been created yet! Our verbatim theatre performance (*verbatim theatre is a type of documentary theatre in which plays are constructed from the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or topic) explores what it means to be a woman in a world obsessed with body image & celebrity culture & the effect this is having on our self-esteem & lives.

Please join us to celebrate the festival & raise a glass to our own Wonder Women. We proudly present this performance as part of Wonder Women 2015 with support from Unity Theatre Trust & Arts Council England.

Performances take place at Gullivers NQ on Oldham Street M4 on Monday 30^th & Tuesday 31^st March both at 8PM. 

Tickets are £4.95 and can be bought via WeGotTickets here: https://www.wegottickets.com/ 

*trigger warning: content includes stories on disordered eating. 

@theatremighty www.facebook.com/mightyhearttheatre

Manchester Women's Aid and the Pankhurst Trust present: A Living Library!

Manchester Women's Aid and the Pankhurst Trust present:

A Living Library!

A SICK!Festival Event

March 19th 2015 2-5pm - FREE

Manchester Central Library, St. Peter’s Square, Manchester M2 5PD

Come and borrow a living book. Discover personal stories of survival.

Life doesn't always go according to plan and any one of us can find our lives affected by domestic abuse. Volunteer Living Books will make themselves available to be 'borrowed' by members of the public for open conversation about their lives and experiences.

What is the RISE Living Library?

The RISE Living Library was developed by RISE - the Brighton & Hove national award winning domestic abuse charity.  Launched in  2010, the event aims to promote dialogue, reduce prejudice and encourage understanding about domestic abuse. The simple format creates an opportunity to speak to survivors and those who work to support people affected by domestic abuse.

Living Books include survivors, refuge and outreach workers, the police and others speaking one on one with interested members of the community. Each 'reading' lasts up to 15 minutes.

RISE Living Library has been described by readers as 'beautiful, inspirational and moving'.

"I was just passing and didn't have the time to build up expectations. It didn't matter. It is so inspirational and beautiful. I feel grateful people wanted to share their experiences."

"Great to really put the person into the story. I really loved it!"

Manchester Women's Aid and the Pankhurst Trust are delighted to be holding their first RISE Living Library as part of Manchester's inaugural SICK! Festival!

The event is free - all you need is curiosity and an open mind.

STILL WE RISE Exhibition (9 - 22nd March) & performance (14 March 12pm - 2pm)

STILL WE RISE

Exhibition (9 - 22nd March) & performance (14 March 12pm - 2pm)

People's History Museum, Manchester

Last week a Channel 4 undercover investigation evidenced the state sanctioned abuse of women in Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre. These are issues that asylum seeking women have been speaking out about for years.

Over the past year SHUT DOWN YARL’S WOOD demonstrations led by Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) and Manchester Migrant Solidarity (MISOL) with Safety4Sisters have taken over some of the main squares in Manchester, as women fight to get their voices heard.

Come and hear directly from women who have experienced the horrors of Yarl’s Wood, and their ongoing fight for justice and sanctuary.

Reserve your place for the performance on 14 March using Eventbrite

Exhibition curated by Jenny White of Warp & Weft

Part of the Wonder Women Radical Manchester programme

Manchester Roller Derby Celebrate 5th Birthday with Big Bash

Reblogged from http://manchesterrollerderby.com/2015/02/manchester-roller-derby-celebrate-5th-birthday-with-big-bash/

It’s been five years since Manchester Roller Derby burst onto the scene with their all-inclusive approach to Roller Derby, and to celebrate they’re hosting a unique double header on Saturday 7 March.

MRD’s Kerried Alive and Sirenide block Sheffield’s Beat Monkey – Photo by Shirlaine Forrest

Boy, girl, whatever else - Manchester Roller Derby never wanted it to matter, which is why we’ve trained co-ed since our inception, and why our All-Stars are the undefeated champions of it in the UK. So, we’re celebrating our 5th birthday the only way that seems right - with a co-ed roller derby double header.

Our All-Stars will face their toughest challenge to date in Crash Central – a mixture of Crash Test Brummies, a frequent match up for MRD’s Men’s A Team New Wheeled Order, and Central City Roller Girls, who have only ever faced MRD’s ladies as their B-team.

Manchester’s Co-Ed B-Team – the Furious Engines – will be facing a side from the Wirral – the Savage Animals are a mix of the Wirral Whipiteres’ ladies The Savage Lillies and best frenemies of Choas Engine – The Pack Animals.

All the details for the days events can be found at our facebook event. You know the drill, get your tickets HERE to save some serious ££, they’re £7 in advance but £9 on the door. Any derby fans under 10 years old can enjoy the action for free.

Thursday Lates: In Emergency Break Glass, The Feminist Takeover

Thursday Lates: In Emergency Break Glass, The Feminist Takeover
Manchester Art Gallery, 5th March 2015. 5.30-8, events begin at 6pm.

To Launch the Wonder Women Radical Manchester program of events for International Women’s Day 2015

From suffragette smashing windows in the gallery to a breathtaking exhibition of female surrealists, Manchester has a rich heritage of stereotype-smashing women. Yet society, and the art world, is still dominated by men.

‘In Emergency Break Glass’ brings together the North’s best emerging female contemporary artists, performers & creatives to challenge the male-dominated artistic canon, respond to the gallery’s artworks and inspire attendees.

Curated by The Feminist Takeover team (made up of feminist artists, curators, writers and researchers, protagonists from No More Page 3, For Book’s Sake, Mighty Heart Theatre and Stirred Poetry), The Feminist Take Over Thursday Late launches the Wonder Women’s week of events for International Women’s Day 2015.

This Thursday Late will run from 5pm-8pm, with events beginning in the Atrium at 6pm. Audiences are invited to tour the new contemporary exhibition that we have installed within the permanent collection. Live performances are scheduled all evening throughout the gallery and within the Feminist Takeover hub in the Atrium, and audiences are welcomed to explore the issues for themselves via the interactive arts & artist discussions that will be occurring throughout the evening in the Atrium.

By giving self-identified women a voice in the context of Manchester Art Gallery we aim to encourage discussion and explore the issues around the representation of women within the gallery, the art world and the wider society. 

This is an emergency.

Join us in smashing patriarchy with art!!!

Artists & performance line-up to follow.

Anti-capitalism and fashion – marking International Women’s Day

The Working Class Movement Library will celebrate International Women’s Day on Saturday 7 March at 2pm with a talk by Tansy Hoskins about her book Stitched Up: the Anti-Capitalist Book of Fashion.  Ballad singer Jennifer Reid will perform alongside the talk.

Winner of the ICA Bookshop Book of the Year 2014, Stitched Up delves into the alluring world of fashion to reveal what is behind the clothes we wear. Moving between Karl Lagerfeld and Karl Marx, the book explores consumerism, class and advertising to reveal the interests which benefit from exploitation.

Tansy dissects fashion’s vampiric relationship with the planet and with our bodies to uncover what makes it so damaging. Why does ‘size zero’ exist and what is the reality of working life for models? In a critique of the portrayal of race in fashion, the book also examines the global balance of power in the industry.

Stitched Up provides a unique critical examination of contemporary culture and the distorting priorities of capitalism.  Alongside this Jennifer Reid’s songs, drawn from the Library’s vast collection of songbooks and songsheets of protest and rebellion, will form an apt commentary.

This event is part of Wonder Women: Radical Manchester.  It is free, and open to all.

STILL I RISE: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

An evening of spoken word, music and comedy on an all-women platform

Celebrate International Women's Day with a fantastic evening of all-female talent, from spoken word and poetry, to theatre and music, hosted by Freedom from Torture and the Lesbian Immigration Support Group.

Inspired by the late Maya Angelou, Still I Rise highlights the talents and struggles of women from across the world. It will include a theatre performance by the women of the Lesbian Immigration Support Group and poetry readings by clients of Freedom from Torture. A £4 donation is suggested.

Special Guests TBA!

This event has been supported with a grant from Manchester City Council.

Thanks to robhelsby.com for the artwork.

Further information available on the website here

Reclaim the Night Manchester 2015 - Light up the city, fill it with noise

Reclaim the Night March

Thursday 26 February, 19:00
Meet at Owens Park, Wilmslow Road, Fallowfield

Reclaim the Night After Party

Thursday 26 February, 20:00 – 02:00
Club Academy, University of Manchester Students’ Union, Oxford Road

Key Information

On Thursday 26 February, we Reclaim the Night and raise our collective voices against street harassment, violence against women, rape culture and victim blaming.

The march starts at Owens Park, Wilmslow Road, Fallowfield at 19:00. A neon parade will head down Wilmslow Road towards the University of Manchester Students’ Union. The march will be led by a women’s-only block, open to all self-defining women, and followed by a mixed march open to all genders.

The evening continues with the Reclaim the Night After Party, a festival of the finest women speakers, performers and DJs at the Students’ Union Club Academy.

This year is going to be bigger, brighter and louder than ever. Bring your glow sticks, bring your friends and bring your voices.

Light up the city, fill it with noise

The Twitter hashtag for Reclaim the Night Manchester 2015 is #ReclaimtheNightMCR