This conference also showed a play on Forced Marriages and Honour Based Violence- This play was a huge success! The story show cased a dynamic relationship between a brother called Sunny and his sister called Mya. To know more about this Play and book for your own conference please log onto http://www.spanielworks.co.uk/.

Feed back from this year's conference was excellent and a number of people whom attended would be taking something back to thier organisation that they can use.

H.O.P.E would like to thank Arts Council England for supporting the Play and Leicestershire Constabulary for sponsoring the event.

Pictures from the Conference are below, these pictures were taken by Ash Rana who can be contacted via H.O.P.E. Pictures below included, Minister Bridget Prentice, Anne-Marie Hutchinson, Dr Aisha Gill, DI Pete Williams, Meena Kumari, Actors from Spaniel in Works, Liz Collins, Sheila Lock and Delegates from the 2009 Conference

Welldone All who where involved with H.O.P.E on the DVD and Conference Project!

This training has raised more awareness on these issues and allowed professionals to see the signs and know where to refer victims of domestic abuse.

The revised guidelines replace the existing individual guidelines which were tailored for specific professionals and now brings these together into one single document.

To gain access to this publication please click here http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/3849543/forced-marriage-guidelines09.pdf

To access a BBC News Report on this please click here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8129466.stm

H.O.P.E attended a website launch at the House of Lords on the 30^th April 2009. This website was developed by the Ethnic Mincoirty Foundation whom are based in London. This Launch was chaired by Lord Bhatia (OBE & Chair of EMF) . The key note speakers were Bridget Prentice MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Ministry of JusticeMaria Eagle MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Government Equalities Office (GEO) Sarah Russell, Head, Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) Dr Krishna Sarda (Hon), Chief Executive, Edutrust Academies Charitable Trust (EACT)

This Launch showed you how the website worked and its purposes, the website looks great and a good tool for both young people and adults. To access this exciting new website please click here www.forcedmarriages.net to access the Ethnic Minority Foundation please click here http://www.ethnicminorityfund.org.uk/

This DVD launch took place on the 31^st March 2009 at Leicestershire Police Headquarters.  

Below are some comments we received back from those who attended.

 East midlands News also covered this launch to see a clip please click here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7974890.stm  

  It’s a pity that not all influential organisations are picking up on the issues surrounding FM/HBV   

 Excellent dvd, very good work 

Thought this was well done and interesting. I think there should be more time to read the statements though-well done 

Good to see young people involved-we need more survivor stories 

Really enjoyed the dvd, i work with the elderly and would like to see more work with the over 65 and mental health 

Great dvd i think its really great that young people were involved and that so many professionals, survivors and others were heard from as this is a really enhanced message 

Very informative, enjoyed listening to the dvd and comments about rising awareness within the community 

The dvd launch was well timed in view of the forced marriage act, an invaluable resource, user friendly for the community, voluntary sector and professional groups 

 Dvd was very good, gave a good over view with a personal touch. Hopefully it will be launched into the media and available throughout the county as a very valuable and awareness rising tool.

It should really make a difference   Well done Meena and Pete fantastic work-keep it up!   

This event will take place on Wednesday 19th November 2008 from 10-3pm at Leicester College, Freemans Campus, Aylestone Road, Leicester. It is designed to unleash entrepreneurial spirit in students and to shape the business minds of the future!

The event is an official part of 2008 Enterprise Week, which is celebrated throughout the world and this year’s theme is Global Entrepreneurship.

Students will have the chance to listen to inspirational guest speakers’ share their secrets of success.

Guest speaker Meena Kumari will be at the event to talk about being the director of her own business H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy which she started at the age of 24. She says: “I think enterprise week is a great way of learning what you can get involved in and what is out there. Setting up my own business was the best thing that I did and I believe that anyone can do it as long as you have passion and drive! I’ve found that being your own boss is great, you have no one telling you want to do and you can make your own decisions, I wouldn’t change my job for anything!”

For further details please log onto http://www.letsgolocal.co.uk/Leicester/LeicestHERday-Trust/