Bedfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes

Annual Council Meeting 2025

Saturday 12th April 2025

Kings House, 245 Ampthill Road, Bedford MK42 9AZ

 Doors open 11:30am for 12:30pm start.

Coffee Shop will be available

Come along to our Annual Council Meeting and celebrate the incredible achievements of the past year! This year, we have an inspiring lineup of speakers, including Jeryl Stone, NFWI Chair, a fascinating talk on Climate Change and Lewis Kaler from Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice, our Charity of the Year. Plus, we’ll be unveiling our new Climate Change banner – a highlight of the day! Don’t miss out on this exciting and engaging event – we’d love to see you there!

Our Keynote Speaker is Nazir Afzal OBE talking about his work on women’s safety and rights

Nazir Afzal OBE was Chief Crown Prosecutor for NW England and formerly Director in London. He was Chief Executive of the country’s Police & Crime Commissioners and most recently, National Adviser to the Welsh Government. During a 30-year career, he has prosecuted the most high-profile cases in the country & advised on many others. Nazir has led nationally on several legal topics including Violence against Women & Girls, child sexual abuse, and honour-based violence. Nazir had responsibility for more than 100,000 prosecutions each year. His prosecutions of the so-called Rochdale grooming gang and hundreds of others were groundbreaking and changed the landscape of child protection.  He is the Chancellor of the University of Manchester – the largest one site university in the U.K., the most popular university in the U.K. for applications, the number 1 university for employability, 28th globally, 44.000 students, 13000 staff, 550.000 alumni, 25 Nobel Prize Winners

Nazir is Chair of the Lowry Theatre – the “National Theatre of the North and the Church of England National Safeguarding Panel. He is actively involved at board level with many organisations: the new Creative Industries independent Standards Agency; Strategic Adviser to the People’s Powerhouse; Patron of the Association of Safeguarding Partners and sits on the National Police Chiefs Ethics Committee. He is advisor to Bikal Technologies (UK) Ltd., who develop Artificial Intelligence and 5G product, largely using research from universities to transfer into a commercial product. Nazir was the first ever independent Chair of the Catholic Church’s Safeguarding Agency and previously Chair of the Independent Review of Culture of London Fire Brigade and the Nursing & Midwifery Council.

The afternoon will end with a presentation of certificates and draws for the raffle and the Federation Flutter.

Each WI is invited to send a delegate to this event free of charge.

Observer tickets are available to members, friends and family @ £13 each.