Sheffield, 14 September 2024
In line with the new criteria set in 2024 it is with great pleasure that the Trustees of NWR (National Women’s Register) announce Susan Baird of the Kilbarchan Group as the winner of the 2024 Mary Stott Award.
Susan Baird is pictured in the middle with Fiona Catterson (L) (a previous MSA winner) and Linda Bailey (R) who nominated Susan for the award.
The Mary Stott Award is presented annually to an NWR member who has made an exceptional contribution to NWR, her community or a wider initiative. Candidates for the award exemplify exceptional personal development and unswerving commitment to their cause, and are nominated by NWR members.
Susan joined NWR in 2018 and is local organiser of the Kilbarchan Group, which welcomes members from in and around the Johnstone area of Scotland.
Fiona Catterson accepted the Mary Stott Award on behalf of Susan at the conference and presented Susan with NWR’s commemorative quaich – a Scottish cup of friendship – on her return home.
Susan’s Kilbarchan Group colleagues commented in nominating her:
Susan Baird of Kilbarchan group has been selected to receive the Mary Stott Award. Kilbarchan group feel that Susan embodies all the values of NWR, and the group has flourished and become vibrant with her hard work and encouragement.
Susan’s focus is always on inclusion and promoting diversity. She has actively encouraged other members to become involved with community schemes, particularly those benefitting the environment, ranging from “Walking for Health, of which she a great advocate, litter picking and the Pride picnic. A poster of Susan and another member advertising walking for health was featured on the back of buses.
She was instrumental in encouraging NWR to provide the recent British Sign Language course to support inclusivity, and also actively incorporates the tips given on the course into meetings.
Susan is a quietly assertive member, who often struggles to be heard over loud ‘lively minds’ yet she always manages to ensure everyone is heard and respected.
About the Mary Stott Award
Mary Stott was the first and longest serving editor of ‘The Guardian’ newspaper’s Women’s page, and it was under her aegis that ‘The Guardian’ provided a launch pad for the National Housewives Register (NHR), a forerunner organisation of NWR.
Mary Stott was a great supporter and friend to NWR; over 40 years she acted as an informal advisor, served as a trustee and was appointed an Honorary Life Member. Following Mary’s death in 2002, the NWR Mary Stott Award was founded as a lasting tribute to her contribution to NWR.