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Woman's Hour

Mina Smallman, Pauline Campbell, FASD

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2021

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mina Smallman, the mother of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, the sisters who were murdered in a North London park last year, speaks to us about her grief and women's safety. She also talks about wanting to reach out to Sarah Everard’s mother because of the particular type of grief they share. She also reminds us of the type of people her daughters were.

We get the latest from the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester with the BBC's Political Correspondent, Chris Mason.

We hear from Pauline Campbell who's written a book called Rice and Peas and Fish and Chips. It's part social & political commentary, part memoir and explores what it means to be British. Pauline grew up in 1970s London as a first generation, immigrant child of Caribbean parents. She left school with virtually no qualifications after being told she wasn't clever enough for University. But at 23, when she was working as a housing benefits officer, she got a place at university to study law. Even though she was ‘black, old and a woman’ - her words - she kept going and qualified as a lawyer when she was 41. Now she's an award-winning local government lawyer.

FASD stands for Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. They're a range of lifelong disabilities caused by a mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. They include physical, mental, behavioural and learning problems. A new study by The University of Salford says that between 600 and 1,300 children across Greater Manchester may have developed the condition every year. Based on those figures, the National Organisation for FASD believes that 1.2 to 2.4 million people in the UK may have had FASD in 2020. So what are the reasons for this increase and why is FASD so often misdiagnosed?

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:05.2

Hello, I'm Emma Barnett, and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:10.4

Hello, and welcome to today's programme.

0:13.1

And I want to ask today about friendship and bonds made through adversity.

0:17.0

One of my first guests today is Meena Smallman,

0:19.4

a name more people know tragically not because of her work as a former archdeacon in the church,

0:24.4

but because two of her daughters,

0:26.1

Bieber, Henry and Nicole Smallman, were murdered in a park by a man last summer.

0:31.3

The killer is awaiting sentencing later this month,

0:34.2

but Meena wanted to come on Woman's Hour today to offer the hand of friendship to Susan Everard,

0:39.3

the mother of Sarah, who was murdered by a policeman, a serving policeman,

0:43.7

who was sentenced to life in prison last week.

0:46.4

As Meena puts it,

0:47.8

the two women are members of a small club that no one wants to be in.

0:52.7

Last week, I read aloud most of Susan Everard's victim impact statement that she read in court.

0:58.1

So many of you were very moved and contacted me afterwards and the programme too.

1:03.8

Hearing what Susan had to say was extremely hard for Meena,

1:07.6

but equally she knows how important those statements are,

1:11.1

as they give those who are left behind a platform, a voice.

1:15.7

Shortly you'll hear what Meena also wants to say and has to say about her experience of the police,

1:20.8

good and bad, her take on what needs to change to make women and girls safer,

1:25.7

and some memories of her daughter's Bieber and Nicole.

...

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