Our fourth "WHiST Across the Decades" Event 15th October 2026 - Exploring 1996-2000
On 15th October, in our latest Across the Decades event we revisited the years leading up to the Millennium, the era of "Cool Britannia", "Blair's Babes", Spice Girls, and the foreboding generated by the idea of the Millennium Bug, when chaos was (wrongly) predicted when every digital device moved its date from 99 to 00.
Old-Skool Fortune Tellers rebooted
As well as the usual quiz, playlist and food, we all remembered the days of folded paper "fortune tellers" and - in honour of millennial optimism - rebooted these so that we replaced the likely outcome of our latest teenage crushes with our wishes for women in the future. The word cloud summarises the fortunes expressed by event participants.
Additionally, women recorded the following wishes for the next 40 years from today:
Free from fear No poverty Free to BE A million creative opportunities
How do these events make you feel?
Once again, we requested feedback from project participants on the impact these events have on them personally. Here is a selection of their views:
Lifted the mood
Happy I came
Good to mix with other women
I liked not going straight home after my class.
I don't go out in the evenings so 3-6 is great for me.
Positive
Good to join together having fun
Lifts our mood and gives us a chance to work together and socialise
Having a laugh and testing brain
A Poem for Every Year
As you will now know, our Heritage Project volunteer, Angela Marshall is also a poet. She's set herself the task of writing a poem themed around every year covered by our Across the Decades Events. Here are her next five poems:
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