On 8^th March 2016, in celebration of International Women’s Day 2016, Richard Harrington, MP for Watford, invited two Watford girls to shadow him in Parliament.

Samantha Sibanda was chosen by her teachers at Francis Combe and Sophie Richards was chosen from Watford UTC.

The young ladies took part in a workshop to discuss how to get to a 50:50 gender balanced Parliament. After this they took part in #takeovertuesday which meant that the girls took the place of members of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, a group of MPs chaired by Maria Miller, who are elected to scrutinise the work of the Minister for Women and Equalities.  Samantha’s name and school were written on the official Order Paper for the Commons.

Samantha was selected to sit on the committee for the session to ask her question: “Do you think that integration is an issue in our society? If so what are the policies you have in place to tackle this?”.

The girls then had lunch with Richard Harrington, MP for Watford, in a Commons restaurant, discussing the significance of International Women’s Day, discrimination in the workplace and the girls’ plans for the future.

After lunch both girls went on tour of 10 Downing Street and then back to Parliament to watch the International Women’s Day debate in the Commons.

Speaking about the day, Richard said: “I would have loved to have had this opportunity at their age so it’s a privilege for me to be able to invite Samantha and Sophie to have this experience. The girls were fantastic – Maria Miller told me how impressed she was with Samantha’s confident questioning style. I wish them both the best for the future.”

Thank you to Seb Alfano, Daniella Bernard, Clare, Anna and everyone at Elstree for putting this wonderful video together. The Elstree UTC offers full-time technically orientated courses to students aged 14-19, specialising in the entertainments industries. Students work with Elstree UTC Productions on live industry projects building up valuable skills. This video was part filmed by a group of Year 10 and 11 students and edited by Seb, a final year student. The music was written especially for this video by Daniella.

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And thank you also to our Team Margot Ambassadors: author of Margot’s favourite Blue Kangaroo books Emma Chichester Clark, comedian Lee Nelson and TV Dr & author Ellie Cannon for all your support.

“This could happen to anybody. If you’d be prepared to take a bone marrow transplant, or any other type of organ donation or blood donation, then I feel that people should be prepared to give also… I’d like people to think about that.”

Vicki Martini, Margot’s mother

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ABOUT TEAM MARGOT

In 2013, 14-month-old Margot Martini was diagnosed with blood cancer and required a bone marrow transplant (also known as a stem cell transplant) to stand the best chance of survival.

Family and friends came together as Team Margot to raise awareness of Margot’s plight and others desperately seeking a blood stem cell donor match.

Margot eventually found a suitable donor match and received her bone marrow transplant in February 2014. Unfortunately, Margot’s Leukaemia was extremely rare & aggressive. She relapsed during that summer and passed away, aged 2 years and 2 months, on the 27 October 2014.

Margot’s family are unspeakably grateful to her selfless donor for his miraculous gift, which gave Margot extra time with her family and loved ones.

Team Margot launched Margot’s donor appeal on Christmas Eve 2013 and are credited as having run the most high profile global donor appeal anywhere in the world, embracing national and international TV, radio, print, online, outdoor media and Virgin America flights. Within the first 6 weeks of launch the charity, Delete Blood Cancer UK received over 50,000 requests for swab kits in the UK alone.

Team Margot’s efforts to date have resulted in tens of thousands of people registering as potential stem cell donors. Statistically, this means that during the next ten years, more than 500 people will now have the chance of a potentially life saving bone marrow transplant.

The first of these potentially life saving transplants occurred by way of peripheral stem cell donation in late 2014 thanks to an anonymous donor who registered after hearing of Margot’s appeal. The second was a bone marrow donation by our friend Katrina Krishnan Doyle – see her video blog: https://youtu.be/QzNxVhCo8do

VISION

We imagine a world where every patient in need of a bone marrow transplant is confident of quickly finding a matching donor.

We want to help save the lives of all those people who, just like Margot and our family, never thought they’d need a bone marrow transplant.

GOAL

Our initial goal: 2.2 million people on the UK stem cell register. There are only 1 million people currently registered (1.6% of the population).

To find out how quick and easy it is to register, please visit teammargot.com – wherever you are in the world, YOU can save a life.

MISSION

We continue to honour Margot’s legacy as a permanent Foundation.

We campaign for more potential bone marrow / stem cell donors to join the register – especially people with a mixed genealogy. Margot’s mixed family background was the key obstacle to finding her a perfect match.

Team Margot
Together, saving lives

teammargot.com