Held on Sunday, 4^th March 2007, The Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) arrived bright and early to accessorise our booth with relevant materials such as banners, flyers, brochures and handy guides, in our bid to promote our upcoming event – the International Women’s Day (IWD) carnival, as well as to introduce the guests to our new project, the Women’s Register.

Upon the arrival of the public, who were seen streaming into the centre at 830am, the staff of SCWO along with some of its Executive Board Members, namely, Mrs Wee Wan Joo (President of SCWO), Ms Ann Phua (Chairperson of the International Women’s Day 2007 Organising Committee) and Ms Mei Woo (3^rd Vice President of SCWO), seized the opportunity to promote our IWD Carnival and encourage guests to be a member of the Women’s Register. To draw the crowd, lucky dips were offered to those who purchased tickets to the carnival, and facial vouchers were given to those who signed up with the Women’s Register.

Promptly at 9am, the carnival and stage programs commenced. Beginning with the mass exercise conducted by the fitness experts from TRUE, the crowd was seen actively participating and carrying out the exercises taught with great enthusiasm. Upon the arrival of the Mayor and Female Advisors, who were all clad in pink, the crowd was immensely excited to then welcome the Guest of Honour, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong. His appearance brought much cheer and applause to the crowd as he graciously launched the WEC 40^th Anniversary Commemorative Book.

The Prime Minister also led the presentation of the Commemorative Books to the main sponsors of the events, as well as present prizes to winners of the essay writing competition.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong then spent his time at the carnival interacting with Singaporeans who were more than thrilled to have a word or two with the Prime Minister himself, or simply to exchange a handshake. SCWO also welcomed Mr Lee at our booth, where the Executive Board Members present had a brief conversation with him, after which they handed him and the guests a copy of the IWD handy guides and other SCWO materials.

With Mr Lee’s departure from our booth, the SCWO staff were then back in full force to encourage the crowd to purchase tickets to the IWD Carnival, and also to sign up with the Women’s Register. We seized the opportunity to give the visitors to our booth a greater insight on the carnival, as well as the benefits of signing up with the Women’s Register. Although majority who attended the carnival were from the older age group, there were many who were interested but chose to take time to consider.

As we were busy informing the crowd present of the events and projects that SCWO has planned, there were also ongoing activities and performances. Such as that by Osim, where a large number of iGallops were placed before the stage and the crowd was allowed to sit and have a feel of the fitness machine. There was also a fitness workout led by the fitness experts from TRUE who taught the public how to reap benefits from the iGallop. In addition to the fitness workouts, L’Oreal (Vichy) also held a skincare presentation advising the public on beauty issues while introducing suitable beauty regimes. The National University Hospital also held a presentation on LASIK, while Great Eastern had a financial segment.

Though no one left empty handed as goodie bags were handed out to visitors of the carnival, the evening saw many from the public walking away as lucky winners to the Lucky Draw.