Fashion at the Oscars with the CWC

Two weeks ago, on February 5th, over fifty ladies from the CWC and many other clubs such as the St. John’s Wood Women’s Club, the Kensington & Chelsea Women’s Club, the Petroleum Women's Club, FIWAL and friends of CWC members were entertained by the wonderful anecdotes and juicy bits of gossip about the stars and their fashion stories by our speaker, Bronwyn Cosgrave.

Bronwyn is a fashion journalist, broadcaster and author – and Canadian! She gave us a detailed and fascinating look into the stories that went into her most recent book Made For Each Other: Fashion at the Academy Awards.

Our audience braved the streets and pavements still showing signs of the recent snowstorm (well done everyone) and were captivated by Bronwyn's enthusiasm for her passion – fashion! Two very lucky ladies won copies of Bronwyn's book to add to the fun of the morning.

You can read more about Bronwyn’s book, her frequent appearances on television and her other media work on her website – and purchase her book on Amazon by clicking here.

We extend a huge thanks to Bronwyn for taking the time to speak to us – and to everyone who helped to make the occasion so enjoyable. The event was a great success, raising £500 for our charity, the Maple Leaf Trust.

And if you’re into surfing the web, be sure to catch the clip of Bronwyn on the CBC website. Go to the CBC video pages, then click on the link to ‘fashion’, then scroll down the list of items and click on ‘Erdem’s Raincoats’. This link might not always be there, but if you manage to catch it, CWC members should know that Erdem was one of the recipients of a Canadian Centennial Scholarship – awarded through the CWC and Maple Leaf Trust!

submitted by Patty Bell, CWC vice-president

February's Hospitality Morning

Since taking on the role as CWC president, Margaret Wickware, with help from her vice-presidents and executive team, has upheld the tradition of ensuring that our monthly hospitality mornings are enjoyable and welcoming to new members and old. Our last hospitality, as well as being both of these, was thought-provoking and inspirational.


Our theme was Africa. Our two guest speakers have both spent substantial periods of their lives living and working with African women. And both of our speakers, in describing their experiences, touched our hearts.

Nancy Durrell McKenna, an award-winning photographer and film-maker, has spent most of her professional life documenting the lives, rituals and traditions of women and families around the world. Originally from Canada, she’s lived most of her adult life in the UK. She talked to us about the work she has done in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa and specifically about the work done by the charity she founded in 2003, Safe Hands for Mothers. Nancy is shown on the left in the photo above, along with Margaret Wickware (c) and Camilla Gibb (r).

Her presentation shocked us with the brutal statistics of deaths of women in the continent largely caused by the lack of access to appropriate health care during pregnancy and childbirth but also by the dire consequences of child marriages and genital mutilation. It was difficult to hear the stories and see the photographs that Nancy’s charity has disseminated to drive home the need for resources to provide assistance and education to remote communities, but also hugely inspiring to hear how one person’s vision to make a difference can become a reality. If you can contribute in any way to helping Safe Hands continue their work, please visit their website and get in touch with Nancy. She distributed information about a forthcoming ‘pilgrims walk’ to raise funds – and we wish her and Safe Hands all the best for the future.

Camilla Gibb has been mentioned in an earlier blog entry. She was born in the UK, but raised in Canada and attended the University of Toronto. It was not wholly surprising to learn that Camilla and Nancy have met before, having such a shared interest in Ethiopia and the cultural issues that affect women in that country. Camilla spoke to us about how her interest in Ethiopia started. As part of her PhD studies, Camilla spent a year living with a family in Ethiopia, dressing in a way that followed local custom, and researching the religious practises of her community. But like Nancy, with her desire to make a difference, Camilla knew that she needed to move beyond her work as a social anthropologist to become a writer, so that she might communicate the emotions and feelings of the people she observed. She has certainly done this with her novel, Sweetness in the Belly.

Camilla amused us by pulling out her very dog-eared copy of her book, but we were very quickly silenced as she read to us a portion of the novel. It transported us to the house in Lambeth where advice and help was given to Ethiopian refugees who had fled horrific circumstances but who were now seeking loved ones – seeking any connection to what they had lost.

Camilla and Nancy graciously answered our questions and spent time talking with individual members about their work. Please do follow the links to learn more about their work.

Announcing the 2009 Maple Leaf Trust Dinner & Auction