9.00am to 9.20am - Opening Ceremony

Join Karen Skidmore & Nicki Williams for the opening of the festival

Karen & Nicki are going to set the stage for the next two days with an overview of what's coming, who to look out for and what sessions you won't want to miss. This first session of the day is going to give you what you need to help you make the most of the conversations, connections and the expert interviews happening throughout the three days.

Plus, there's prizes to be won for those live on the call or watching in the Facebook Group!

9.30am to 10.10am

HRT: debunking the myths 

with Dr Leah Austin, GP & Naturopathic Nutritionist

Women should be able to make an informed choice as to whether they wish to take HRT, both in the lead up to and after their menopause and for how long, rather than being told what they are allowed to do. In this incredibly insightful session, Dr Austin will outline what health challenges a woman faces at the menopause and how to manage them. You will hear about the latest science behind HRT; what it is, who is it for, how long you can take it for and why it is not for everyone.

She is going to answer the questions that every women needs to know about HRT:

• Whether all women should take HRT and is HRT safe
• Can HRT really slow down the ageing process
• If you don’t have a uterus, do you need to also take progesterone
• Is there a time limit to when you should stop HRT and when should you start HRT for maximum benefits

10.30am to 11.10am

Local Politics: Having the time of your life

with Jackie Wren, Councillor & Personal Trainer

This session will give you the motivation, tools and encouragement you need to make the best of a very special time in our lives. We now have experience and knowledge and through challenges gained valuable life skills. that we can share to make a difference in not just our own lives but in the lives of others.

Jackie is going to be sharing how she got involved in local politics when it became apparent to her that the only way to challenge the status quo was to have our own District Councillor. Five years ago, Jackie stood to be a Councillor in Oxted as a candidate for the Oxted and Limpsfield Residents Group. She went on to win with a massive majority. She is now proud to say that they now have 13 Councillors which makes them the majority party, and now run the Council and have Chairpersons on every committee. Jackie is now the Chairman of the Community Services Committee and voted in Deputy Chairman of the Council.

This was a huge achievement for a Council that has been run by a Conservative administration for 30 years, and this year Jackie stood again to defend her seat and won with 76% of the vote; the highest turn out in Tandridge.

Even though she is coming up to age when most people think about retirement. she is thinking about the future and planning ways that she can encourage other women over 40 to enjoy life, take on challenges and strive to be the best version themselves possible, including encouraging many more women to embrace this exciting time and get involved in local politics.

11.30am to 12.10pm

Menopause isn’t just about Oestrogen: Meet your Feisty 4 hormones

with Nicki Williams, Happy Hormones For Life

When we hear about menopause, we often hear about symptoms and issues associated with declining levels of oestrogen, and the pros and cons of HRT. The thing is, the symptoms of menopause can be impacted by many other hormones, and if you don’t address these imbalances, you’re not going to feel 100% even if you’re on HRT.

In this session, Nicki would like to introduce you to your Feisty Four hormones! These four hormones can be the difference between sailing through menopause with no symptoms or having a really tough time. Once you know what they are and how to control them, you can get them all working for you, not against you so that you sail through perimenopause and beyond.

1.30pm to 2.10pm 

Revolutionising The Menopause – Our collective responsibility

with Heather Jackson, Co-founder of Gen-M

In this insightful session, Heather will discuss her work with GenM and will explore the shocking statistics on the menopause and perimenopause from GenM’s Invisibility Report that underpin their mission. Heather will also explain why the menopause is more than a medical issue, a workplace issue, or a gender issue, but one that affects everybody in society, and will reveal what we can all do to help normalise the conversation around the menopause.

We are going to dive into topics including:

• Why it’s only now that we are starting to see menopause in the headlines and have these conversations about menopause
• What are the biggest things that need to change right now for menopausal and perimenopausal women
• And how brands been been responding to menopause conversations

9.00am to 9.45am 

Ebb & Flow: Redefining productivity & how you approach your working week 

with Karen Skidmore, Midlife leadership & business coach

Our work and life is designed in 24 hour cycles. And yet 50% of the population don’t work this way. Female hormones typically work around a 28 day cycle (our menstruation cycle), whereas male hormones work around a 24 hour cycle. It’s not that women can’t work to a 24 hour clock, but our linear work culture has programmed us to be consistently productive day in, day out, often striving to do more, in less time, and not taking into account our own body’s natural rhythms and hormone cycles.

It’s really easy to see how high our standards have got based on what we think we ‘should’ be doing during our days. And if we don’t already have enough to contend with, the menopause can hit us like a freight train during our midlife.

If you are finding it hard to keep up with life and work, it doesn’t mean you just need to keep your head down and work harder. Or even give up on your dreams and play small! In this insightful session, you are going to discover:

• how your monthly cycle, hormones and seasons all contribute to your productivity levels throughout the year
• how to have the time and energy for what matters to you
• and achieve more in your professional work than you ever thought possible

10.00am to 10.45am 

Menopause at Work: Why the Ground Rules have Changed

with Julie Dennis, Menopause at Work Specialist

Menopause is trending. From telecom giants to SMEs, every week seemingly heralds the launch of a new company menopause initiative. Yet nearly a million women have left the workforce due to the impact of menopause.

In this session, we are going to explore what is really going on in the workplace to allow this to happen, discuss whether the rise of celebrity menopause – Davina McCall, Meg Matthews, Louise Minchin – have helped to establish menopause as a mainstream topic in the workplace, and share how you can retain valuable, experience employees by :

• Creating positive behaviours and conversations around menopause at work through 2021 and beyond.
• Ensuring you’re prepared for the outcome of the current government inquiry into the impact of menopause in the workplace.
• Delivering a positive, inclusive learning experience where everyone’s voice is heard and your company is known as a great place to work.

If you’re working in an organisation that hasn’t yet done anything about menopause you can find out what to do to change that today.

11.00am to 11.40am 

How to Have a Happy Menopause – Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish in Midlife

with Jackie Lynch, Registered Nutritional Therapist & Author of The Happy Menopause

There are so many ways that the right nutrition can help you to have a healthy and happy menopause, and simple changes to your diet can make a world of difference to you and your symptoms. Join this session for some practical, expert advice to support you through the hormonal transition of the menopause.

If you only do one thing to manage menopause symptoms what should it be? What’s the most common mistake women make with their diet during the menopause? What is the impact of stress on menopause symptoms and how can your diet reduce stress? How can diet help with hot flushes? Any tips for managing anxiety and brain fog?

12noon to 12.15pm

The Hunger Project & Unleashed Women

with Manda Lakhani, Trustee of The Hunger Project

Top-down, aid-driven charity models fail to create lasting change in the lives of those in need. To achieve a sustainable solution to hunger, we need to flip that model on its head, and afford those living in hunger access to the education and tools needed to end hunger for good. One of the most effective ways to achieve this and to end hunger for everyone is to empower women.

The menopause is an important life transition and it’s so important to accept it fully and embrace it as a positive change. Your midlife can be a period of replenishment and reflection and as you grow through it, you can become aware of the opportunity to become a powerful women with leadership possibilities and being change in the world.

This is why we’ve partnered with The Hunger Project and their powerful Unleashed Women movement. Join us for a spotlight session with Manda Lakhani, Board Trustee, to learn more how you can use your creativity, leadership and ideas to raise funds that will empower women, and end hunger once and for all.

2.15pm to 2.50pm

‘It’s all in your head’ – Mental Health and The Menopause

with Danielle Bridge, CEO of Life Support CIC and Mental Health Advocate

The latest statistics from Mind, the mental health charity founded in 1946, tell us that 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England , and that 1 in 6 people report experiencing a common mental health problem (like anxiety and depression) in any given week in England.

Anxiety and depression is one of many menopausal symptoms that midlife women suffer, but don’t realise how much they are really coping with until it’s too late. And there’s no doubt that the past 18 months has put all of us under significant strain; from managing workload with homeschooling to dealing with isolation, illness and loss. So it was critically important that we had a conversation about the inevitable connection between midlife transition and our mental health, and break down the stigma that often comes with it.

What you will discover during this interview:

• Why do we not talk about Menopause
• Does everybody suffer from mental health challenges during the menopause
• How effective is advice for others from our own lived experience
• What we can we do to look after our mental health at this time

3.10pm to 3.45pm 

Menopause + ageism + sexism = a fine mess!

with Rachel Lankester, Magnificent Midlife founder and midlife mentor

This session is looking at how attitudes to ageing, and the ageism and sexism we may face, especially at work, can exacerbate our experience of menopause. We are going to explore the wider context for menopause, how we can embrace our older selves and continue to step forward with confidence, not back.

Why do you believe menopause and how we feel about aging are so intertwined? How does ageism show up in the workplace for women? Why is lack of confidence often such an issue around the time of menopause? What can women do to lessen the impact of ageism and sexism on their menopause transition? You’ve been researching menopause experiences in other cultures – what have you found?

4pm to 4.30pm – Closing Ceremony

Join Karen Skidmore & Nicki Williams for our final session of the week

The perfect way to close our festival; join our hosts, Karen & Nicki, for an open discussion on our biggest take-aways, what surprised us and what sessions are worth listening back to again.

We will be inviting you to share your best bits as well as what intentions you intend to make as a result from what you’ve learnt over the past two days.