Who‘s coming to FiLIA?

[lanadelgrey]

I‘m starting to get excited.
Are there plans for a MN meetup?

Indeed.

There is also Julie Bindel's work investigating cared-for children, grooming, and abuse in Blackpool.

Astonishingly, the location isn't chosen by the number of naice hotels but by the extent to which local women can benefit.

Indeed. Setting aside - for the moment - the awful criminal assault in that hospital (I agree, have a plan not to go there!) Blackpool is an accessible and affordable place for a very large group to meet, and it's particularly good for women based across the North of England and southern Scotland, as well as NI (ferry to/from Heysham for example).

Try booking a venue which will accommodate up to 2000 people, with easy public transport links, with a variety of meeting rooms able to accommodate group sizes from 15 to 2000. And do it for an affordable price. IT's really not easy.

As a PP has said, FiLIA does a heck of a lot of other stuff besides a big conference every couple of years. Most of it is a rather wonderful combination of local organising & activism, and international work. It's why I donate regularly.

And, you know, grass-roots feminism existed before the "gender critical" movement - even before MN. Shocking. I know!

Blackpool is good from the point of view of there being plenty of inexpensive accommodation, previously since Bradford they seem to have chosen more expensive cities to stay in, every year.

I'm well aware of the hospital case. It was the Lady Bracknell-ish exclamation of "A more insalubrious location I couldn't imagine!" which made me giggle - heaven forbid that middle class feminists might have to slum it in somewhere like Blackpool. AIUI, it's because Blackpool has such chronically poor outcomes for women and girls that they are going there.

@ParmaVioletTea I wonder whether the conference is still needed as the main feature of what FiLiA do. They used to just organise a conference, but now they do so much fantastic work for women and the conference just seems to be a lightning rod for malcontents. Maybe they'd do better to have a much smaller event showcasing their local or recent work of the previous year, open only to members. A lot of charities have a day of action / day of workshops etc as part of their AGM.

At £950 it jolly well should be a gorgeous venue, though admittedly I don’t know the going rate for this sort of thing.

Are you organising the retreat, @IamSarah? I seem to remember you mentioning on another thread that you were involved. Maybe ask MN about doing a paid promotional thread for a wider audience.

Right. Why is it you're here, if you think so little of the women of Mumsnet? Just to chuck a few snide remarks in?

The going rate for therapeutic retreats is usually around the £3k mark so this is definitely on the economy side. Sisters Heal is not for profit and run by volunteers which is why it can offer such a gorgeous venue + EMDR and psychotherapy for that price.

Thanks for the advice! Will look into promoting on the other board. Spreading the word about the retreats is my volunteer work for Sisters Heal 😊

I missed out the vital word attending. And I am not prolific on FiLia threads as for instance on this thread I haven't even read let alone posted since I think page 2 and it is now 30 something.

But I am touched that you have noticed me despite this abstemious contribution.

I also post on threads about Green conferences, and Labour ones, none of which I would think of attending.

And even, and just to be clear I never would, trans events and protests treads!

I'm on this thread because I was at FiLiA.

I'm on Mumsnet because I've been here for well over a decade and I think quite highly of many of the women on Mumsnet.

That doesn't mean I can't from time to time find a few of the more "overheard in waitrose" posts very funny.

Have you got a chip on your shoulder about middle class women? I get bored of people posting here deliberately trying to create divisions between women. Imagine if someone posted a snide comment about working class women!