We are very excited to announce that our speaker will be Judge Barbara Mensah. She sits on Luton Crown Court and became the first circuit judge of African origin when she was appointed to the South Eastern circuit in December 2005.
Barbara was born in 1959 in Ghana, and brought up in Hawkhurst, Kent. Following a BSc Philosophy degree from University of Wales Bar Finals and Masters from London University, Barbara qualified as a Barrister in 1984. An independent practitioner in criminal and civil law, she taught post-graduate law students. Barbara has enjoyed secondments to the Europe Commission, European Court and European Court of Human Rights. She is also a Contributor to Bar Manuals on Criminal Law and European Competition Law and author of European Human Rights Case books. She was an Immigration Judge from 1998 to 2005, a Mental Health Judge from 2006 and a Circuit Judge from 2005.
Barbara will talk briefly about how she got to her current position, and the under-representation of women at the higher levels of the judiciary despite the increased number of women entering the profession. Barbara will then discuss women in the justice system as victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence and also as perpetrators of offences of dishonesty and violence. Barbara may give a couple of case studies, and allow us to consider what sort of sentence we would would give!
We will also be discussing Parson’s Green Fair, our single biggest annual fundraising. Taking place on Saturday, 5 July, we will be asking for volunteers to bake cakes and savouries and help man the stall on the day.
If you’ve got some time over the weekend and would like to practice your baking skills, the next meeting of the Silver Club takes place this comingTuesday, 3 June during the day at The Hollywood Arms. Having helped set up this monthly meeting for elderly local residents, we try and support it when we can by providing home baked cakes. So, if you have a chance to bake something this weekend and drop it off to the pub on Monday when you come along to the meeting, we know that they will be appreciated.
The next Book club will be taking place on Tuesday, 3 June at 7.30pm (where we will discussing The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Please let us know if you will be attending so that we can book a table in The Hollywood Arms.
As mentioned last meeting, our very own Fiona-Jane Weston unveils her new show:
Wartime Women: the Khaki Cabaret
What did Mummy do in the War?
Things she’d never done before!
For the first time, ‘ordinary’ women became pilots, mechanics and engineers. They made munitions, worked the land and performed daring acts of espionage behind enemy lines. Things would never be the same again! Hear their fascinating stories in an affectionate tribute with song, verse and diary extracts. Often moving and frequently funny, the celebrated mistress of dramatic cabaret, Fiona-Jane Weston will re-create the excitement of times that changed our world forever.
The show will be taking place on Wednesday, 2 July, 2014 at St James Theatre Studio,12 Palace St, Victoria, London SW1 5JA. Tickets are selling fast, so please click here to book.