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Prof. Helen Cheyne, Sheena Byrom OBE and, holding her certificate, Angela Mapplebeck, a student midwife who won the raffle prize that gave her free attendance at the conference.

MaMa Conference supports IMT

The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust is extremely grateful to conference organisers Ceres Events who presented the hugely successful ‘MaMa Conference’ in Edinburgh on 26th and 27th April, and selected this charity to benefit from the raffle and other activities.

Professor Helen Cheyne, chair of the trustees, spoke at the conference and said afterwards: ‘The Iolanthe Trust was delighted to be chosen as one of the charities supported at this year’s MaMa conference. As always the MaMa was an exciting and vibrant event with international speakers including Sheila Kitzinger and our very own Sheena Byrom. The conference raised £300 for the Iolanthe Trust which will be used directly to help midwives and students in their practice, studies and professional development’.

As always it was a difficult decision to choose from the many excellent applications that we received this year.

Announcing the names of midwives and students who have gained awards from the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust Helen Cheyne, chair of the Trust, said: "As in previous years, it has been overwhelming to read the applications we receive reflecting students’ enthusiasm and midwives’ desire to continue improving practice through research and education. In spite of ongoing economic restraint, in 2013 we have increased our overall funding so that we are helping 20 midwives and students to achieve their ambitions – in the confidence that their projects will be an investment in better hands-on care for women and their babies."

Find out who won an award.

Press release

Congratulations to all our marathon runners

A massive crowd watched over 34,000 runners take to the streets for the London Marathon on Sunday 21st April 2013. The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world and this year was no different.

We were delighted to have had four runners supporting us - see how they got on

The 2012 Iolanthe Midwifery Trust awards have enabled midwives and students to travel across the Globe.

Midwives travelled to China to attend the Normal Birth Conference, and to Nepal to run a workshop on emotion work (see opposite).

Student midives travelled to Hawaii, Canada, New Zealand, Ghana and Ethiopia.

Read our winner's reports.

Julie Wray

It is official we have three new Trustees. Prof. Helen Cheyne announced the changes at the Annual General Meeting last year, and the Trustees have now officially been inducted.

The vacancies came about because two long-standing trustees, Jean Davies and Dr Luke Zander, stepped down in November(see below) and Prof. Ruth Deery stepped down in January this year.

The trustees have the pleasure of welcoming the following midwives to the trustee group:

• Sheena Byrom OBE, freelance midwifery advisor, consultant, speaker and author

• Phoebe Pallotti, clinical midwife at the Jessop Midwifery Led Unit, PhD student and Student Ambassador for Learning and Teaching at the University of Sheffield

• Dr Julie Wray, senior lecturer, University of Salford and joint editor of The Practising Midwife

Read full press release

Sheena Byrom

Goodbye to two Trustees

It was with some sadness that the Trustees said goodbye or adieu to Jean Davis and Luke Zander who retired from the Trust on Tuesday 6th December. Both have been with the Trust for more than a decade and contributed significantly to the Trust's work.

As a tribute to the work that Jean has done both for Iolanthe and midwifery as a whole, the Trust and the Royal College of Midwives will join to produce a new award - the Jean Davis Award - to be offered from 2014. The details of the award are still to be finalised, but Jean was clearly touched by the honour. She looks forward to meeting the recipients at future events.

Luke spoke of the changes in maternity care that he had seen and "the very enjoyable association" that he had had with the Trust over the years of his involvement.

Read interview with Jean

The 2012 Iolanthe Award Ceremony was held on Thursday 27th September. Dr Helen Cheyne, chair of the trustees, introduced Sheena Byrom OBE who came to present the Iolanthe award winners for 2012 with their certificates and cheques, at a symposium and reception held at the University of Manchester Institute of Health Sciences.at the University of Manchester.

Student Awards, supported by MIDIRS, went to: Caroline Corcoran, studying at Staffordshire University; Frances Rivers, Kingston University & St George’s; Tessa Henderson and Alice Gautreau, both from Edinburgh Napier University; Claire Nutt, University of the West of England; Chantelle Brown, at the University of Salford; Deborah Smith,University of the West of Scotland; and Alison Hulme, University of Manchester.

Midwife Awards went to: Sheila Manning, midwife at the Balfour Hospital in Orkney; Dr Andrew Symon, Senior Lecturer, University of Dundee; Gemma Taylor, Countess of Chester Hospital; Alexandra Birch, midwife at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals; and Jillian Ireland, midwife from Poole Hospital. The 4th Tricia Anderson award went Elaine Uppal, lecturer at the University of Salford.

Chair of the Trust, Helen Cheyne read a message of congratulations from the charity’s patron, Baroness Cumberlege, who said: '‘'It is very heartening to see the 2012 Iolanthe award winners tackling challenges worldwide and in the UK - from addressing weight loss for pregnant women in the West Midlands to urging midwives in China to appraise postnatal quality of life. I am impressed as ever by the energy and creativity of midwives and the commitment of the Iolanthe Trust in supporting their endeavours – well done!'.

Read full report.

The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust Interviews

In our fourth interview with people connected to the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust, Jean Davis tells us about what the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust has meant to her. Read A Midwife Trustee

Did you miss our other interviews? Don't worry - you can download them here:

• Tell us about the money
• Who is Billie Hunter?
• A Founding Trustee
• A Midwife Trustee