The day after the Women in Security (WiS) 2022 awards should have gone ahead in London, Professional Security Magazine MD Roy Cooper explains his decision to postpone the night to Thursday, November 10, to go ahead at the same venue, the Underglobe at Shakespeare’s Globe on the South Bank.
Like most of the rest of the world, Roy Cooper heard of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday evening, September 8. He was sitting at Dublin Airport, on his way home with colleagues after a most successful Security TWENTY event, ST22 Dublin. He had a difficult decision to make. Should the WiS awards evening, due the following Wednesday, still happen? On the one hand, it would mean re-arranging and some people might not be able to attend, whenever the event was rescheduled; on the other hand, what was the respectful thing to do, and in any case some finalists and their guests might not be able to make the September 14, if they had work to do securing the various sites to do with the period of mourning, and ahead of Monday’s funeral.
Roy recalls: “We felt it was inappropriate to continue with a big celebration when the country is in mourning for the Queen.” His decision was justified when it turned out that the queue for those wishing to pay their respects at the lying in state at Westminster Hall stretched for miles, along the Thames, and past the Globe Theatre, which is among London sites to stay open to offer refreshments to those queueing for hours. The WiS ticket-holders in their finest, arriving for the 6.30pm drinks reception, may have walked past the first in the queue.
Besides, one of the industry associations that has hosted WiS, and supports it with a judge, is the Security Institute, whose royal patron is Princess Anne. That new date of November 10 will, Roy hopes, be far enough in the future for people to re-arrange their diaries and be able to attend. Roy feels it was definitely the right decision to postpone, even though WiS has proved highly popular – indeed, it’s been sold out for months and there’s a waiting list too.
WiS 2022 will now be the last event of Professional Security Magazine’s year (a week before is the usual last event of the year, ST London at Heathrow) and Roy hopes that people will be able to treat it as the start of Christmas celebrations. He’s already thinking of what different to do, to add a more wintry feel to the event. “I have always said this about Women in Security, I want the ‘wow factor’. I want people to arrive and say ‘wow!’ and leave and say ‘wow’ on social media.”
So it was in the years that WiS was held on a boat that went down the Thames, requiring Tower Bridge to be raised to let it go towards Greenwich (and back) and so it has been at the Underglobe.
The judging has already happened – the finalists in each of the five categories have been named, in the September print edition of the magazine, and the winners have been decided; they won’t be announced until the night. Roy did say that as a sign of the ever-higher standard (and number) of entries, it’s ever more difficult for judges to come up with a winner. In one category, there was a tie, and Baroness Ruth Henig was asked to adjudicate between two entries (and she has).
Roy gave some details of the night. The UK chapter of the global security management body ASIS is 2022 host; UK chapter chair Letitia Emeana will say a few words of welcome, and Una Riley as the custodian of WiS will talk about the planned Academy of WiS winners, as previewed in the September print edition of Professional Security Magazine. A first gathering of that Academy – dozens of past winners stretching back over ten years now – is planned in London in February.
While not the largest event in the UK security industry calendar, it’s a growing one, and WiS has evidently filled a need – as a celebration of women doing private security, in whatever capacity and at whatever level, going ‘above and beyond’ (like their male peers) to serve customers and the nation more generally. Roy summed up: “It’s going to be a good night.”
