Closed. The boat sank, the sharks won.

Beryl Cook - Artist - 28th May, aged 81.

Gwyneth Dunwoody - Longest serving female MP in UK Parliament. 18th April, aged 77.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry - Actor - 18th December, aged 76.

Miriam Makeba - Singer, Activist and Inspiration - 10th November, aged 76.

Eartha Kitt - Multi-talented, Woman-Warrior and Teller of Uncomfortable Truths - 25th December, aged 81. (You might want to wander over to Heart’s place for more on Eartha Kitt.)

Carol Barnes - News presenter - 8th March, aged 63.

Of course many, many more women died during the course of 2008, some of them known to us, some of them our friends, some an inspiration even if we never met them. These are the ones that made the press, the ones the media deemed worthy of our interest, these are the famous voices that are now forever silenced and they will be missed. More died unknown, and remembered only by those that knew them. Some made a difference and some didn’t. Some, in the manner of their deaths will have made someone think, will have opened someone’s eyes.

At the closing of 2008 we can take a look at those who didn’t make it to the end of the year with us, we can remember them, remember their words and their lives and we can choose to pick up the baton they let fall in death and we can choose to run with it. 

To those who have passed from our world, I hope you found peace and I hope those you left behind can also find some peace in your passing. 

Making A Difference that is…. I may well be certifiable under patriarchal psychiatry but that’s a whole other thing…

That’s a double bed, covered in scarves, 32 of them in all colours, various designs and ALL donated to be gifted to Women in Refuge across the UK this Christmas. I’ve been coordinating this since August. 100 Women will be opening an anonymous gift and I hope we can bring a smile and some warmth to their lives.

Those are the 32 I’ve had sent here, I’ve wrapped them and will be arranging post/delivery in the next week or so. But so many women have jumped on board with this that between us we are gifting over 100 women in 7 Refuges - and the children in at least two of those locations too.

Today I’ve been asked, "So what shall we do for Easter then?" I’ll have to think of something that can be knitted or crocheted as the women helping out here are all crafty types and all knit or crochet, but not until after Christmas.