Rotary Ireland Celebrates International Women's Day 2014
International Woman's Day provides the opportunity to globally recognise and applaud achievements. In recognition of International Women's Day 2014 Rotary Ireland held a breakfast Friday 7 March attended by over 100 business and professional men and women Rotarians and guests. The celebratory breakfast was held in Malone Golf Club and, for the 2nd year, was one of 5 concurrent events held in Belfast, Dublin, London, Edinburgh and Cardiff organised by Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland, in partnership with UN Women. Reflecting the 2014 international Women's Day theme Equality for women is progress for all, the Belfast breakfast acknowledged the accomplishments of women in business, in their profession, personal lives, volunteering and those at home.
International Woman's Day provides the opportunity to globally recognise and applaud achievements and at the breakfast Rotary Ireland's NI Woman of the Year 2014 Award was presented to the inspirational Pretty 'n' Pink Charity founder Noleen Adair. Picture shows organizer Belfast West Rotary Club Past President (PP) Mary Graham, Belfast West Rotary Club; Award winner Noleen Adair; Rotary Ireland District Governor Verity Swan and Dame Mary Peters, Honorary member The Rotary Club of Belfast.
Sandra McCabe PP Lisburn Rotary Club, introducing the Award, stated that the many nominations received and from a shortlist of 6 it had been a unanimous decision to award it to Noleen who, unknown to many, has given inspiration to hundreds of women across the province who have been affected by cancer. Diagnosed with breast cancer aged 22, 13 years later she has been re-diagnosed with secondary liver and lung cancer and is continuing to receive treatment and to fight and defy the odds. She and her husband have acted as a short term foster carer to a number of teenage children and in 2006 she founded the Pretty 'n' Pink charity as she wanted to help raise awareness of breast cancer, particularly in younger women. Having experienced the needs faced by cancer patients and their families Noleen also wanted to help provide funding for practical necessities as well as helping create lasting memories and an escape from cancer if only for a short period of time. In the first year of the charity she donated £15,000 to the Belfast City Hospital Cancer Centre to help with patient care. She achieved this with the help of family and friends and took part in numerous charity events such as skydives and several Belfast Marathon Fun Runs.
Now a fully established charity run by a small team, Pretty 'n' Pink continues to flourish and last year opened a Charity Shop based at the Park Centre Belfast. To date the Charity has raised over £½m, helps families with practical necessities and runs group outings such as nights out to the Grand Opera House.
Rotary Ireland District Governor Verity Swan said she was honoured to present the Woman of the Year Award to Noleen who had been such an inspiration to thousands, encouraging and urging never to give up hope.
Accepting the Award, Noleen thanked for the honour bestowed by Rotary and stated that when she started this battle she just wanted to help, encourage early diagnosis and the prevention of treatment. She stressed the importance of having a positive attitude and her amazement at the growth of the Charity and how every penny donated helps tremendously. She congratulated Rotary as a wonderful organisation.
Key guest speaker, Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie PSNI, in possibly one of her last public speeches in this role as she is retiring from the force at the end of March began by commenting on how humbled she had been by the award winner and that her own achievements seemed so little compared to Noleen's. She complimented the "fantastic work of Rotary to so many causes" and applauded the people of Northern Ireland who donate more per head than any other region of the UK.
She inspired with a very personal insight into her experiences of policing both in the Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross and the Police Service of Northern Ireland during her 32 years of service and highlighted the progress made with equality in policing in Ireland from the first days when women were issued only with handbags and could wear trousers only on night duty in the winter months with permission of the Station Sergeant to the recently formed, highly competitively contended, bespoke squad of close quarters female protection police.
The Deputy Chief Constable highlighted the problems for women as targets and her passion for dealing with vulnerable victims and the real issue of human trafficking in Northern Ireland. In particular she appealed to all to raise awareness and to help shut down this inhumane crime against innocent victims.
Providing inspiration and encouragement she emphasised her 3 'V's:
- Vision – commenting on Rotary's great vision for the future she underlined the vital importance of how "having a vision" can "make a difference" and the significance of recent visions in NI including the bringing of the World Police Fire and Games and G8 summit to NI.
- Values - stressing how one must always be true to your own values – her values being Faith; Family; Friends; Fitness and Fun;
- Vitality – emphasising the importance of looking after oneself 1st, getting the right work/life balance and the "fitting of one's own mask" first.
She concluded that she had been privileged to have served for 32 years, been Deputy Chief Constable and that the whole community of NI had been a huge support to her.
She urged all to be professional and optimistic, remember the 3v's and, reflecting Rotary's own mantra, quoting the words of Margaret Mead "never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world" she emphasised that small changes can change the world.
Lagan Valley Rotarian Kate Carson addressed her reasons for joining Rotary having been an active member of Rotaract where she had been introduced to the object and projects of Rotary and had made many friends. She noted what membership means to her as a member of a young club with a young vibrant membership, highlighting that Rotary enables her to give something back to the community and make a real difference.
Rotary Ireland are delighted to be associated with UN Women on International Women's Day to help promote gender equality and fairness for women wherever they may be in the world.
This outstanding event highlighted ordinary women doing extraordinary things and reflected the Rotary International 2014 theme of Engage Rotary Change Lives.
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