International Women’s Day event at World HQ raises over £1000 for Women’s Street Watch

A charity nightclub event in Newcastle raised over £1,000 for women’s safety charities this week.

World Headquarters welcomed women from across Newcastle to “dance with purpose” on International Women’s Day, raising £1106 for Women’s Street Watch.

Bunney at World HQ

 The event took place on 8th March, with music played by talented female DJs: Bunney, Francesca Traxx, Becky Woodcock and Intra. All proceeds gained from ticket sales and donations were given to Women’s Street Watch Newcastle, a community watchdog working to help women feel safer on the streets at night.

The event was part of a series of community-based parties: Dance with Purpose. Each event not only raises money for the most important issues facing Newcastle’s community but also highlights national and international issues.

The International Women’s Day Event in aid of Women’s Street Watch in Newcastle was the first of the series. Set up with the help of Sammy Henderson, a regular DJ at the nightclub and Newcastle University student also known as Bunney, the event helped raise money for a taxi to help vulnerable women get home safely after nights out.

Sammy said, “Women’s Street Watch are a different type of organisation from any I have seen up north… they give women the opportunity to go out and have the most fun they want to have without having to worry about being too drunk to get home.”

She stressed that women should be able to go and have a good time without, “this constant fear and worry,” and that WSW are not only helping women on the streets at night but are a huge voice for all females advocating how to support others,

Gabriel Day, Programming Director of World Headquarters said: “Women’s Street Watch is a great new local initiative. With safety and equality being fundamental to our club ethos, they were naturally our first choice…”

He emphasised that the club has a history of hosting a variety of women and non-binary DJs, with this event having an all-female line-up.

Northumbria Uni Students at the event on IWD

It’s all part of World Headquarters’ ever-evolving steps taken to define their club ethos from DJs to door staff, most notably, a new welfare room has been created in the downstairs green room, transforming it into a safe space for anyone in the club who feels they need a quiet area to raise any potential issues or “have a breather”.

The space will be monitored by fully trained members of the WHQ team and security team, who are on hand to assist at all times.

Also, with the help of Women’s Street Watch, the club is taking part in a training programme: Shout up! This works with licensed premises in Newcastle to train staff to recognise and respond to sexual harassment.

The success of WHQ’s first launch means they plan to run another three Dance with Purpose parties in 2022, each supporting different causes. Other events include Bend & Shake: Queer Party, run by and in aid of Newcastle-based women and non-binary persons’ charity Sister Shack

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