The Didsbury Women's Circle (DWC) is a grassroots conservative political group based in Greater Manchester in England
Beginnings
The Didsbury Women's Circle (DWC) was founded by a group of like-minded women, who claimed to be tired of what they saw as the "lies" and "distortions" in the media, and decided to "fight back" and tell the truth, as they see it, to the British people.
General Information
Motto
The Circle's latin motto is:
Potentia pro Libertas, Libertas pro Potentia
which translates as:
Power for freedom, freedom for power
Constitution
The constitution of the DWC is loosely based on the system that governs the United States of America, with a clear separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the organisation.
- Executive branch:
- President (currently Mrs. Penny Francis)
- Executive Vice-President (currently Mrs. Deidre Cunningham)
- Legislative branch:
- Executive Committee, made up of 6 permanent members
- Judicial branch:
- The Judiciary is drawn, at random, from all members of the circle, excluding those involved in the legislative or executive branches.
Elections to all posts are held each Spring, on a date chosen by the Executive Committee
Broadly speaking, the Executive branch co-ordinates the day-to-day activities of the circle (see below) whereas the legislative branch decides on circle policy, such as collective political views. All members of the DWC are allowed to address the Executive Committee during debates (time allowing). In the case of a tie in a vote by the committee, the President is able to cast a deciding ballot.
Members
The founding members of the DWC were Penny Francis , Deidre Cunningham and Dorothy Braithwaite . All are currently still active within the organisation and sit on the Executive Committee. Their roles are:
- Mrs. Penny Francis - President
- Mrs. Deidre Cunningham - Executive Vice-President
- Mrs. Dorothy Braithwaite - Chairwoman of the Executive Committee
Christine Hamilton, wife of the ex-MP Neil Hamilton, is an honorary member of the Circle.
Julia Dawson was removed from the Executive Committee. The committee have remained tight-lipped as to the reason for this. Their official comment is that Ms Dawson "committed a gross infringment". There is some speculation as to what this might be.
Activities
The DWC undertakes many activities within the wider community in a effort to make Didsbury, and the rest of England, into what it sees as a safer and more productive place.
The DWC also makes and sells homemade raspberry and rhubarb preserve.
Campaigning
The most high-profile political activity that the DWC has so far involved itself in was the "March for Rural Freedoms" in December 2004. The protest was conceived as a response to the current Labour government's legislation banning fox-hunting. The march was due to end outside local MP Keith Bradley's constituency office, but unfortunately had to be cancelled because of the activities of anti-hunt activists.
Community education and debate
The DWC's activities in this field are primarily concerned with drawing the public's attention to some of the following:
Views
The DWC is broadly conservative in its views. It has an official stance (as laid down by the legislative branch) on several issues.
Partisan Allegiance
The DWC has no specific partisan allegiance, despite the fact that its members come from a relatively narrow section of the political spectrum, from members of the Tory Party to UKIP activists. However, there is nothing in the constitution forbidding partisan allegiance so this may not always be the case.
External links
Didsbury Women's Circle Homepage
