President’s Review 2008-2009
During the past twelve months it has been a great privilege to have served as the President of SI Leicester during our 75th Anniversary Year.
It has been a busy and eventful year celebrating the achievements of women in the business community, academia and charitable organisations in and around Leicester.
In May we launched the 75th year by honouring one of Leicester’s most famous women, the suffragette Alice Hawkins. Her great grandson, Peter Barratt spoke with passion about the sacrifices and suffering that Alice and her sister suffragettes endured to give women of today the freedom to vote, the opportunity to pursue careers and to raise the status of women in world affairs.
In July we welcomed Gertfrieda Hoekendijk de Wol, SI Ede and her husband Dirk to our supper meeting, where we had a very sociable evening with our speaker Alan Gray who entertained us tales from behind the scenes at Wimbledon. In September, Margaret Bellamy dispelled the myths that libraries were boring and declining with the advent of the internet. On the contrary, libraries were meeting the challenges of the 21st century and were still a very valuable resource in the community.
Our speakers in October and November reflected what was happening in the business and academia. Maggie Robinson, Mpower coaching got members involved in practical exercises designed to determine to what type of personality they were, while Janette Pallas, one of 11 recipients of the Queens Award for Enterprise Promotion and Head of De Montfort University’s business incubation and enterprise department spoke about her work in helping hundreds of businesses get off the ground and how she was now learning from her clients.
Our speakers in the latter part of the year gave moving accounts of working with young people with learning difficulties. Shelagh Wilson was aware that something wasn’t right with her son but it took many years of heartache before at the age of 21 her son was finally diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Once diagnosed getting support was difficult but all the frustration and fighting to give Simon a normal life has had a positive result and Simon is now studying for Bsc in biomedical sciences at Nottingham Trent University.
In February Jean Perkins spoke to us about her work with the network team and the Special Olympics, this was particular apt as in July 2009 Leicester will be hosting the Special Olympics.
This years summer outing we had a joint fund raising event with Leicester Rotary. Although the summer sunshine was sadly lacking and we were greeted with torrential rain on the day, it didn’t spoil the event and members enjoyed an evening of ‘Champagne, Strawberries and Music’ the music provided by four talented young ladies ‘Bella Donna’. Music seemed toplay a major role this year and in January we were very fortunate to hear stunning performances from the celebrated organists Geoffrey Carter and Christopher McChrystal and the violinist Cathy Spencer accompanied by her husband Geoffrey Spencer on the piano. Even the Charter Dinner couldn’t escape and members were encouraged to participate in singing songs reflecting 70 years, music provided by String Sensation. I am eternally grateful to table 12 who entered into the spirit of the evening and provided the vocals.
This year our fundraising events were spectacularly successful and we raised £8,065 which was distributed between our chosen local charities Steps, Motor Neurone Disease Association, Save the Children Leicester and CLASP, Princess Royal Trust for Carer’s. On an international level we supported the quadrennial appeal, Project Sierra.
However, it would be remiss of me not mention the Celebratory Lunch at the Walker’s Stadium on 14th October 2008 in the presence of Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal and our guest speaker Sally Kettle who was an inspiration to us all entertaining over 430 guest with tales of her epic journey with her mother rowing across the Atlantic, it was funny, moving, reckless and courageous and raised £250,000! Get yourself noticed, we certainly did in Leicestershire Life, a small but at least a mention in the Leicester Mercury and finally Soroptimist News.
The 75th Charter Anniversary dinner was celebrated at the Hilton Hotel where our guests included
Lord Mayor of Leicester Manjula Soud
Federation President Carwen Wynne Howells
President East Midlands Region Linda Moore
President of Leicester Rotary Robert Mansfield and Mrs Patricia Mansfield
The celebration was also enjoyed by Presidents and members of clubs from the Regions and our own members, families and friends. It was wonderful to meet with our guests from Denmark, Karen Teglgaard, Bigithe Arup, Ellen Hommelhoff and Else Chemnits.
I must now refer to the various committees who carry out much of the work of the club. I should like to thank all the convenors, chairpersons, event organisers and members for taking the club forward this year, we are currently in a transitional period as we change to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century women. Change is never easy but at least we are taking positive action.
The development of the networking lunches, the bid to make business a bit more slicker with ‘My Talks’ delivered by the members, looking at new ways of doing things, embracing technology and the ‘Can Do’ ethos.
As President I could not have achieved all that we have in this special year aIone and I am privileged to have worked with an Executive Committee of the highest quality who have worked hard to assure the smooth running of the club. I like to call them team ‘Galloway’ which I hope they will take as a sign of how much I have appreciated their support throughout the year.
One of the strengths of Soroptimism is the members and how they support club, providing produce and prizes for the stalls, getting involved in the fundraising events, the time and energy spent on giving service, what I call our ‘golden moments’ without the members support we could not have achieved the successes we have experience this year.
To the new members of the club I hope that you will enjoy being a member of a dynamic and amazing organisation.
So my final note is to say thank you for the loyal support which the Club has offered to me. I hope you’ve had as much fun and enjoyed the year much as I have and I know that you will continue to offer the same support and loyalty to the incoming President Joan Gregory. I wish Joan a happy and successful year.
Vivienne Galloway, President 2008-2009