About Us
The WASPI Campaign was founded in 2015 and continues to go from strength to strength.
Our Facebook page currently has over 147,000 followers and is growing daily. This is testament to the solidarity of our support and our determination to fight this injustice together.
The WASPI Campaign is fighting for justice for all women born in the 1950s (on or after 6th April 1950 to 5th April 1960) affected by the changes to the State Pension Age (SPA). WASPI is not against equalisation, but we do not accept the unfair way the Government implemented the changes to our SPA with inadequate or no notice.
The Team
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Carole ArchibaldMembership Director
MoreCarole Archibald
Now retired, Carole has many years’ experience in Administration and Office Management. With an Honours degree in Education and Training Carole has also specialised in Adult Literacy and Numeracy, focusing on the impact of IT amongst Adults with Learning Disabilities. She is also a volunteer at an aviation museum with responsibility for cataloguing the largest private collection of aviation books in Scotland.
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Sandra BroadbentNational Organiser for Local Groups
MoreSandra Broadbent
Sandra’s professional background focussed on personal, team and organisational development mainly in the public sector. Sandra had had considerable experience of working in organisations undergoing dramatic and often turbulent change and has led many successful projects to aid these processes.
Sandra worked full time and studied part time for 10 years and achieved an honours degree and a post graduate diploma in Training Management.
Within weeks of becoming the 63rd member of the Devon WASPI group Sandra was organising the coach to the first demonstration outside Westminster and a few weeks later became a co-coordinator for the group.
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Jane CowleyCampaign Manager
MoreJane Cowley
A retired headteacher, Jane joined the WASPI Campaign early on, working with others to set up the structure and to organise the start of the legal action against the Department for Work and Pensions. She has seen the campaign grow from a grass roots organisation to the nationally known organisation that it is today. She is proud of what the Campaign has achieved, but knows that the work is not finished until 1950s women secure justice. Outside of WASPI, Jane enjoys walking and trying to tame her garden as well as working with local charities
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Debbie de SponCommunications Director
MoreDebbie de Spon
7As a Company Director in her twenties, Debbie worked in admin for her early career going on to run two small businesses. Later when a full-time carer she trained to be an Education Adviser for the National Autistic Society Education Advice Line, and as an Audio Describer for the blind and visually impaired and front of house volunteer at Chickenshed Theatre. Debbie has been the Administrator of the WASPI Campaign Facebook Page since 2016 and with the support of moderators steadily built the audience to 147,000.
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Flick ForemanMembers’ Representative Director
MoreFlick Foreman
I am now retired. My working life was based around office work and book-keeping. I worked mostly part time to fit in with children, caring duties and my husband’s business. I retrained in my spare time, studying computerised accounts, payroll, etc.
My hobbies include growing carnivorous plants. I have helped several times with setting up and ‘wo-manning’ the Carnivorous Plant Society stand at Chelsea flower show. I also keep a rescue African Grey parrot – known for interrupting WASPI calls…..
In 2016, I was approached by our local Labour Councillors to set up a WASPI group. Together with Natalie, we manage Medway WASPI alongside Dartford and Gravesend Group.
Public speaking never comes easily to me, but I am fairly eloquent, (talk too much lol) and have found that my approachability has helped empower other women within our groups. I am very proud of that.
When I left work in 2017, I volunteered as WASPI Finance Officer. I fulfilled that role for a year or so until Carole Morley took over from me I’m very fortunate and honoured that I have been asked to represent WASPI Members on the board alongside Christine Lutley.
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Christine LutleyMembers’ Representative Director
MoreChristine Lutley
I am retired and living in Hove, East Sussex, but lived all of my working life in and around London.
I worked in Education, mostly in a further education college in central London where I had a number of roles in Student administration, course information and advice, marketing and publications, student finance and lastly in examinations. My favourite part of all of my roles in the college was providing impartial help to students and visitors to the college to decide on their next step, whether that meant at our college or at another college that provided a course that better fitted their needs.
As a vision-impaired person myself I was able also to provide information on the support that a person who identified with a disability could access, to help them to realise their full potential while studying.
My interests are in family history (my family tree goes back to around 1630), crafts and language learning. I speak French and German and have a smattering of other languages including Italian and Spanish.
I joined WASPI when I first moved to the Brighton and Hove area in 2017, and quickly became involved with my local group. Since then I was nominated by my colleagues to WASPI’s Members’ Committee, and was lucky enough to be accepted. I am proud to have been nominated by my fellow committee members into the role of Chair of the Committee and non-executive director, along with Flick Foreman.
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Angela MaddenFinance Director and Chair
MoreAngela Madden
Finance Director. A technology graduate, Angela started her career in IT. With a Masters degree in Change Management, she worked at senior manager level with a large public company managing their significant change programmes. As a director of a medium sized company in the service sector, Angela managed a significant growth programme. Now retired Angela is active in her local community and extended family and loves walking.
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Karen SheldonWebsite Content Manager
MoreKaren Sheldon
My early career started in sales working for a large corporation. Later a varied part-time career life was based to fit in with a husband who was in the merchant navy and away for extensive periods of time and raising our three children. Once the children were old enough, I trained and worked in the Financial Planning Sector, and then worked as a School Bursar for some years and finally my last job was doing the financial accounts for a small local firm who are one of the last in the country that make handmade bricks for the restoration of historical buildings.
I joined WASPI in 2016 after seeing posts on Facebook and realised that there were many outraged women like myself who had not been informed of the state pension age change. I am currently joint co-ordinator of the Suffolk WASPI group and I am very proud to be part of the WASPI movement fighting to bring justice to this wrong doing.
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Christine SmithFundraising Manager
MoreChristine Smith
A retired Registered Nurse at the Newcastle Hospitals Trust in the fields of cardiothoracic surgery, ITU and as a Nurse Educator at Northumbria University. Prior to retirement for 14 years Christine formed part of the Trust Management team. Possessing a strong sense of justice for all, Christine became a Union activist acting as both Steward and Branch Officer on behalf of UNISON members. Christine is from a large working class family and is no stranger to social injustice. She was an early joiner to the WASPI Campaign and has been an activist for the last 4 years.