Daily Post Women of the Year: Cast your vote

May 15 2008

WHO will be your Woman of the  Year? Laura Davis looks at the  achievements and qualities of this  year’s nominees and invites Daily  Post readers to vote

Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre for Women in Merseyside

STARTED in 1986 by a group of local women, this voluntary organisation supports victims by providing a link to the Police, hospitals and other professionals and agencies. A trained advisor is available to listen in a non-judgemental way and offer practical help on issues such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The charity also runs a support phone line.

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Knowsley Women in Business Network

LAUNCHED in March last year, the network has already making its presence felt confirming that there were many business women in the area who were either running their own companies or playing a key role within a business. It has now hosted 11 networking events, where 475 women have shared information, developed practical business and personal skills through interactive workshops and promoted their businesses.

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Norah Button

PRINCIPAL of the Liverpool Theatre  School, Norah has had a performance  career spanning 45 years and has  appeared in three Royal Command  Performances. She has taught and  encouraged hundreds of youngsters, many  of whom have gone on to highly  successful stage and screen careers. She  is a director, producer and teacher and a  past winner of the Carl Allen Award for  services to the performance industry and  has provided many of Ken Dodd’s   Diddymen.

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Laura Critchley

AT JUST 23, the singer  song-writer, known as the  Long Haired Lovely from  Liverpool, can count Robbie  Williams, Ronan Keating,  Jamie Fox, Mika and 10,000  My Space friends among  her fans. She has already  recorded with Robbie  Williams and sung a live  duet with Ronan Keating and  is on tour supporting  Boyzone. In January, she  was catapulted into the Mojo  play-list at number five with  her album track, Superstar,  her self-written tribute to her  heroine, Karen Carpenter.

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Stephanie de Leng

GAINING much attention for her fine art  calendar featuring a naked woman  prancing among Antony Gormley’s  Another Place iron Men, on Crosby beach,  Stephanie’s interest in photography  started at the age of 15 and developed  over her years as an international  photographic model. She has won  numerous international competitions, is a  regular broadcaster with BBC Radio  Merseyside and is about to publish a  tribute to her adopted city, People of  Liverpool, a Photographic View.

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Dorcas Akeju

THE citation at  Dorcas’s Lifetime  Achievement  Award, from the  Royal College of  Midwives recently,  described her as  “a midwife beyond  excellence”.  Originally from  Nigeria, she has  worked in  midwifery for 32  years and is a  specialist in  inherited blood  disorders at the  Women’s Hospital  and Alder Hey. A  member of the  BRM Steering  Group and chair of  the Health Sub-  Group, she was  awarded the OBE  in 2003.

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Debbie Edwards

WITH two small  children, a 10- hour day at work  and a three-hour  commute, Debbie  was exhausted so  she gave up her  dream job as a  marketing  director and set  up her own  business. Online  shop Pergradi  was launched last  November, selling  products for  children ranging  from bed linen  and toys to  novelty cushions  and furniture, and  she plans to take  the products into  people’s homes  with pergradiparties.

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Candice Fonseca

IN TWO years of running independent  delicatessen and restaurant,  Delifonseca, Candice Fonseca has  provided Liverpool food lovers with  quality produce largely unavailable  elsewhere in the city. One of her chefs is  in the final cook-off for the Liverpool  Dish of 08 competition, and Candice  herself recently won the Best Business  Start-up in the North West Women In  Business Awards.

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Liz Howard

GIVING up her  career as a stock  controller after 18  years to look after  her two young  sons with behavi- oural and speech  problems helped Liz  discover a niche  market. After  successfully  selling toys and  novelties aimed at  children with  special needs to  raise funds for her  school’s PTA, she  opened an Ebay  shop and then her  own website, The  Novelty  Warehouse, selling  multi-sensory  resources.

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Sue Jenkins

BEST known for her 11 years as the  much-maligned Jackie Corkhill, in  Brookside, Sue Jenkins has been acting  for more than three decades. What  many of her fans do not know is how  much time she spends  on charity work and  fundraising to save  theatres from  closure. In 2005, she  created, directed and  produced a Night of  Stars at the Palace  Theatre, Manchester,  which raised  £35,000 to help  build an orphanage  in Thailand.

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Judge Christina Lyon

EMERITUS professor of law  at Liverpool university,  she is the first non- practitioner with no  post-qualifying  experience to be  appointed a full-time  circuit judge and is  internationally  renowned for her  work on children’s  rights. In her position as  Professor of Law at  Liverpool University, she  has gained a reputation  for her approachability,  giving students her home  telephone number and  telling them to call  her if they had any  difficulties before  exams.

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Michelle Lewis

MICHELLE, 25, started fundraising at the  age of eight when she was adopted as the  mascot for the Alder Hey Appeal. When she  was born with very badly deformed legs  and feet, her family were told she would  never walk, but after 27 operations she was  finally able to take her first steps. After the  Alder Hey appeal had hit its £1.75m target,  she continued to fundraise and, with the  friendship and backing of such big names  as Sir Cliff Richard and Ken Dodd, now  hopes to have reached a figure of £2m by  the end of this year.

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Olwen McLaughlin

CHAMPION of local  artists and craft  makers, Olwen is  renowned for her  drive, energy and  generosity of support  for local art and  culture. She came to  Liverpool from Dublin  as a student and  stayed, setting up her  own art shop in the  Bluecoat, which she  ran for many  years before  moving to  Editions  Gallery. She  also  supports  local photo- graphers  and writers.

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Debra Mendy

DEBRA was the first black  headteacher of a  mainstream Liverpool  school. Despite being  raised in the care system,  she gained GCSEs and A  levels and was one of the  first black workers with  Natwest Bank. She became  a single parent and her  second child, who was  severely disabled, died  aged just 16. She has now  created a harmonious  school community that  respects all cultures, races  and abilities.

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Mei Xia Li

AFFECTIONATELY known as Mrs Li, she  moved to Liverpool in 1980 with her  husband, the founder and leader of the  Chinese Youth Orchestra. Although  officially retired, she is active every day at  the Pagoda community centre, where she  holds at least five Tai Chi classes a week to  around 100 people, teaching a unique mix  of ancient Chinese arts of Chi Kung,  Meridian Meditations, Tai Chi, Tai Chi Fan  and Sword forms as well as folk dancing  called healthy and happy dancing.

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Lizzie Nunnery

CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED playwright and  musician Lizzie Nunnery, 25, has seen her  work performed at the Liverpool  Everyman, including the play,  Unprotected, about women involved in  prostitution. She is currently under  commission with the Druid Theatre and  BBC Radio 4 to write a play with songs.  Her second EP, Hungry, was released in  March of this year.

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Abi Pointing

AWARDED the MBE  for community  relations work in  Liverpool and  Manchester prisons,  where she has been a  volunteer for more  than 10 years. A  member of the Board  of Visitors for six and  its chair for two. She  has worked with  criminal justice  agencies at national  and local level and, for  the past four years,  has held the unique  position of  independent adviser  on race issues to the  governor of  Manchester Prison,  which involves  fostering good  relations by talking to  staff and prisoners.

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Sue Sherman

THIS barrister  made headlines  earlier this year  when she talked  a 15-year-old girl  down off a  motorway bridge  on the M60. After  20 minutes, she  suggested they  should go back  to her car to  warm-up and the  girl hugged her  and allowed Sue  to lead her away  from danger.

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Moya Sutton

EXECUTIVE nurse at Alder Hey, where more  than 200,000 children and young people are  treated each year, Moya decided the  hospital should play a role, not just in  treating illness, but in preventing it. She  assembled a public health steering group  made up of a wide range of professions,  local businesses and the voluntary and  community sectors. As a result, Alder Hey  is about to be accredited by the World  Health Organisation as England’s only  Paediatric Health Promoting Hospital.

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Adrienne Taylor

PROVIDING fresh,  locally-sourced  produce to the  people of Merseyside, Adrienne’s  business, The Good  Food Store,  promotes reducing  food miles and is  like a farmers market  on wheels.
Customers order  from an online store  and can choose  from an hourly  delivery service.  Repeat business  averages 90%.

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