BE U - Women's Wellness Project (2025-2026)
BE U - Women's Wellness Project delivered a bespoke programme of activities and workshops specifically designed to promote the physical & mental health and wellbeing of refugee, asylum seeker and evacuee women in Barrow-in-Furness.
The project's mission is to help women feel like the best version of themselves possible in their tumultuous circumstance.
Our project team included Ukrainian women with lived experience who were instrumental in the design and delivery of the programme.
Through the BE U project, we supported over 50 different women from around the globe - delivering 35 different activities with more than 200 participants.
Activities included art wellness, yoga, beauty and holistic therapies, wellness mornings, p2p support sessions and finally an art exhibition and celebration.
This project was funded by Westmorland and Furness Council and delivered in partnership with Furness Multicultural Community Forum and Furness Refugee Support.
Ulverston Munition Girls (2025)
Do you know about the Ulverston Munition Girls, of 1916, and their impact on women’s football?
We delivered a small sports heritage project to revive and celebrate a piece of local history that is at risk of being forgotten. This project was supported by Ulverston Town Council with a £500.00 grant.
The project culminated in a local poster campaign, around Ulverston Town Centre, to raise awareness about this important piece of local heritage, and a presentation given to more than 20 members of Ulverston Rotary Club.
Munitionettes Football refers to the matches that were played by ladies working in munitions factories. These games started off as novelty, but soon grew to be an immensely popular source of entertainment during WW1, and helped to raise vital funds to support war efforts.
Football Historian, Tim Tate, writes: “The first recorded {Munitionettes} match is believed to have taken place on Christmas Day 1916 in the Cumbrian town of Ulverston when women from a local munitions factory took on (and beat) a team picked from the test of the female population” (p.122).
We have sourced the original Barrow Guardian article from December 30th, 1916, which is the first ever report of a Munitionettes Football match (see above).
By 1920, Munitionettes Football Teams were entertaining crowds of thousands of eager spectators all around the UK. One of many such games was when The Dick Kerr Munitionettes Team from Preston played against Newcastle United ladies at St James’ Park in front of 35,000 fans (p.159).
Can you believe that all of this started in Ulverston?
Tate, Tim. (2016) Women's Football The Secret History. First Edition. John Blake Publishing