We are grateful to our wonderful Patrons who provide staunch support and advocacy for WAND’s work and women’s voices.

Tracey West

Tracey West has been an active, noisy patron of WAND since 2011. She has spoken out many times about the plight of those affected by domestic abuse on the radio and in the press.

She has also played an active role at events. In 2014, she chaired the multi-agency No Excuse for Abuse Conference as part of Domestic Abuse Awareness Week which was jointly funded and co–hosted by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Dorset and WAND. In 2022, she performed empowering stand up poetry and took part in the Big Sleep Out in Bournemouth to raise funds for their local refuge.

Tracey is a dedicated supporter of women’s refuges in the South West. She endeavours to raise awareness and funds for these vital resources wherever possible. She believes the refuge services should be government funded for women, men and for members of the LGBTQ++ community, across the country.

Tracey explains, “WAND is a brilliant conduit to a range of resources and safe solutions for women and girls across Dorset. Their Core Team work tirelessly to make a difference, they are nothing short of amazing. It is an honour to act in service to WAND – I’m enormously proud to be a part of what they do.”

Tracey also served as a Trustee for a decade for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics. She retired in 2017 to fully focus on being CEO of the international reforestation charity, The Word Forest Organisation which she co-founded with her husband Simon.

Dame Harriet Walter

Harriet Walter

Dame Harriet Mary Walter DBE (born 24 September 1950) is an English stage and screen actress. Her film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Governess (1998), Villa des Roses (2002), Atonement (2007) and Man Up (2015). On television she starred as Natalie Chandler in the ITV drama series Law & Order: UK (2009–14), as Lady Prudence Shackleton in four episodes of Downton Abbey (2013–15), and as Clementine Churchill in The Crown (2016). She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2011 for services to drama.

Walter began her career in 1974 and made her Broadway debut in 1983. For her work in various Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including Twelfth Night (1987–88) and Three Sisters (1988), she won the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival. Her other notable work for the RSC includes leading roles in Macbeth (1999) and Antony and Cleopatra (2006). She won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth I in the 2005 London revival of Mary Stuart, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play when she reprised the role on Broadway in 2009. She reprised her roles of Brutus in Julius Caesar (2012) and the title role in Henry IV (2014), as well as playing Prospero in The Tempest, as part of an all-female Shakespeare trilogy in 2016.