COMDIAN Jo Brand will be the keynote speaker at an event celebrating women.

West Mercia Women’s Aid will welcome the charity’s patron, who is also a writer and actress to the Old Rectifying House, North Parade, Worcester, on Monday, March 11, to mark the branch’s 30th anniversary.

Other speakers between noon and 2pm will include West Mercia Women’s Aid chief executive Jan Frances.

She said: “Jo has been our patron for the past two years and personifies all that is determined, enthusiastic and positive about women.

“As an inspirational speaker, Jo will complement the theme of the event, celebrating the courage and motivation of the many service users we have worked with over the past 30 years.” The event will be attended by more than 60 local women including University of Worcester lecturer Ruth Jones and Jo Anderson, chief officer at West Mercia Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre.

Representatives from organisations such as social services, solicitors, housing providers and charities as well as those who have been involved in the development of the women’s movement in the region will also be in attendance.

The West Mercia branch of the charity was launched in Hereford, where it grew out of the women’s movement of the late 1960s and early 70s, when the issue of violence in the home became a national focus.

In May 2006, it took over both Worcester and Malvern’s Women’s Aid and Wyre Forest Women’s Aid.

In April 2007 it completed a full merger with Shropshire Women’s Aid becoming West Mercia Women’s Aid.

It now employs 44 staff and 12 volunteers, as well as running a 24-hour helpline, three refuges and an expanding outreach service in each county, which includes the provision of community support to families, group programmes and links to education and employment opportunities.