ust over a month on from the WOW Girls Festival, in partnership with WOW – Women of the World, we want to take a moment to say thank you for being involved and to reflect on the project.

The project in numbers:

• 6 areas visited – Bradford city centre, Keighley, Shipley, Little Horton, East Bowling and Wyke
• 1,400 residents engaged
• 15 community partners
• 100 mentors connected with 100 college and university students
• 127 secondary school students participated in workshops, including intergenerational linking with local older women
• 107,061 impressions on social media

The WOW Bus visited Bradford from Saturday 2nd to Wednesday 6th March touring to Bradford city centre, Keighley, Shipley, East Bowling and Wyke with over 1,400 people taking part in activities.

On Saturday 2nd we delivered creative activities for families and adults in partnership with Impressions Gallery and Bradford Libraries, followed by Sisterhood poetry open mic night by Spoke Poetry Hub. On Sunday 3rd Keighley Creative opened their doors for a day of interactive activities and performances with almost 400 people exploring the bus throughout the course of the day.

Through the week we visited Titus Salt School, Bronte Girls’ Academy and Appleton Academy where 127 students took part in activities on the bus, a printing workshop delivered by a local female artist and an inspiring intergenerational workshop led by The Linking Network. Appleton Academy also visited Sedbergh Sports and Leisure Centre for a panel talk and sports taster sessions with three local sporting women.

On Tuesday afternoon we held a lively community event at MAPA Cultural Arts Centre with 300 visitors, and on Wednesday afternoon we delivered speed mentoring with 100 students from Bradford College and the University of Bradford.

Members of the BCB Radio team joined us at various points, recording conversations which were featured on their International Women’s Day broadcast.

We received lots of positive feedback from the event, including from our schools who said ‘This has been a fantastic experience and our girls have enjoyed it thoroughly!’ and ‘Hearing from other local women was really powerful.’

Leeds Mencap Siblings community group who visited our Saturday family activities said ‘The day has exceeded expectations. We anticipated a few activities but the range and breadth and conversation prompts have been brilliant for our young people. Thank you for this amazing opportunity.’

We also had plenty of reach through press and marketing with 107,061 social media impressions, 442 engagements and 3,695 clicks on WOW content, and 12 pieces of press coverage including BBC Radio Leeds, BBC News, Bradford Telegraph and Argus, FE News and Keighley News.

Thank you everyone involved for making this such an engaging and impactful event.

Bradford District is proud to support the annual National Hate Crime Awareness Week of action.

The 2023 Events Programme highlights some key events and activities running across the district. There will be a Service of Hope and Remembrance on Monday 16 October, at Bradford Cathedral and a series of workshops, training sessions, and pop-up stalls happening throughout the week.

For more information, view our programme, or take a look at our Hate Crime Awareness Week event.

As part of Bradford’s Windrush 75 Commemoration & Celebration Windrush Generations and Bradford Council’s Stronger Communities are hosting an inspiring debate with leading Windrush advocates.

Special panel guest speakers include:

Glenda Caesar

WNO Advocate & Campaigner Windrush Lives/WNO wrongly denied her British citizenship personally overcoming the adversity, rallying for those affected by injustice.

Bishop Dr Desmond Jaddoo

Chair of the Windrush National Organisation advocating a better outcome on a local national and global level.

Reserve your place here