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Regional Newsletter

Carole Atkinson

Past President Sylvia certainly hit the nail on the head when she said ‘Wait until after Christmas’ in my Christmas Card. What did she mean? One long round of events and dinners, lunches, different venues and interesting journeys. Although Kay and I always plan the route most carefully, we are often so busy chatting that we miss a road or take a wrong turning! We find that on our drives to these events we can put the world to rights – well the Soroptimist World anyway. We find we generate some of our best ideas in the car! Perhaps this is what is meant by ‘time for reflection’ that is included in the Can Do Campaign? How much better if Kay and I were with all our club members going over the issues and challenges we all face in running our clubs – the little niggles that can become mountains, the misunderstandings because perhaps we don’t listen carefully enough, or because we each have our own agendas. This latter does not matter as long as we share our ideas and discuss them without fear or favour to come to an agreed way forward. The clubs that have taken time out for reflection, whether it be an ‘away day’ or one or two evenings have all reported that they have benefited from that investment in quality time. If you have not taken time out yet, please do.

Now, the events I mentioned as forthcoming in the last newsletter…..the Poole Swimarathon – what an enjoyable and superbly organised day! The age range of swimmers must have been several decades and it was interesting to watch the children outdo the older swimmers with the number of lengths they completed in the allotted time…and in case you ask – no I did not swim as it would have taken me four times as long as the slowest swimmer to complete a length – and that would not help the coffers! However, it was great to see swimmers from the southern clubs in our region taking part and contributing to the hefty sum going to the safe house. I had never been to a lean lunch before so wasn’t sure whether to have an extra large breakfast or not – I decided or not – the right decision as the lunch was fairly substantial and of course the company was great. Gosport and Fareham hosted the lunch this year but the hosting is taken in turns between Southampton, Winchester, Chichester and Gosport and Fareham - an excellent example of networking and sharing the load. Guildford race night was another event to remember, £1275 raised for Age Concern Surrey and an enjoyable time had by all showing that having fun can be rewarding in more ways than one.

I have attended four annual charter events, three lunches and one dinner – and how different they all were, yet all celebrating the anniversary of their founding, all equally enjoyable and showing what can be done within the Soroptimist framework. Speeches first at Bournemouth’s 70^th gave us all something to talk about during the lunch, Fair trade chocolate tasting at Chichester’s 56^th anniversary was an added perk, whereas my own club Kingston had an Indian Experience with a sari demonstration to celebrate our 64^th anniversary. I attended Guildford’s 49^th anniversary lunch where the speaker on Age Concern was so informative that I felt like moving to Guildford so they could provide me with essential services as I get older. 239 years of service from those four clubs – how many hours, how much fundraising in that time? I also attended the Greater London 84^th Charter Lunch where the top table included all the ‘usual suspects’ but also one new member and one potential member, the former of whom was tasked with doing the raffle. What a great way of showing that we value our ‘newcomers’ and that they are part of ‘the team’.

I enjoyed an evening on membership matters at Reigate and I am looking forward to other events in our calendar. I encourage any of you who have never attended another club’s lunch/dinner or fundraising event to try out the experience. It is surprising what can be learned from our sister clubs and it may lead to new friendships and partnerships. We say we are a vibrant organisation – go out there and see for yourselves.

The task of being your President for the year is most enjoyable and rewarding – some work, but there is a wonderful team of officers supporting me. If you are fairly new to your club or have never held office, why not talk to the officers – find out what they really do and maybe you will be encouraged to take that next step. Who knows, in a few years you could be doing my job and I could be reading your article in the newsletter!

Have a great summer, keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing many of you over the next three months.

Carole

From Olein Webster

Regional PAC Chair

Doesn’t time fly when you’re busy! I’m finding that I’ve got more information in my email inbox than before last November when I took over from Carole. We certainly can’t complain about the lack of information on issues of importance to Soroptimists. I forward on to your Club Programme Action Officers as much as I can for them to action as appropriate. There will always be some emails of little relevance to you – but the delete button is a wonderful addition to any keyboard!

The last UKPAC meeting was held over the weekend of 4-6 July in Lancaster. The Study Day was on Saturday and our meetings on the Friday evening and Sunday morning. Of course, there was plenty of networking in between these times, which is something Soroptimists seem to do very well. So maybe it’s time to take your networking to new levels – talking to other clubs about what you and they do is great, but why not work with another club either in Southern England Region or elsewhere in the UK? I know many clubs work with their friendship links closely and this is of great benefit to both parties (I’m thinking of the latest venture between Bournemouth and Dhaka here amongst others).

However many issues we work on are UK-centred – so how about concerted lobbying efforts to show that members are working on the same issues in different parts of the UK, maybe getting together on fundraising for national charities. There is more than one way to find out who is doing what – talking at Conferences, Study Days etc is just one. The other way is to use the Programme Database. You can use the Search function on here to see what other clubs in the UK, in the world even, are working on – maybe you’ll find a common project. It’s then an easy step to pick up the phone or draft an email.

UKPAC have started work on their Flagship Project – VAW-SIN (Violence against Women – Stop It Now). We’re looking to gather together all the work done on these issues across the UK. The more information we have, the more we can use it to influence government policies and improve women’s lives across the UK.

Your Club Programme Action Officer will have a copy of the DVD “The Gift”, which is linked to the UNICEF Born Free Appeal. The DVD is very moving, but the message is one that we can work on – preventing babies from getting HIV from their mothers. Just raise £84 in your club to protect one mother and baby.

We’re at that time of year when Club Officers have changed – so my huge thanks to the outgoing Programme Action Officers and a big welcome to the incoming Officers. It will be great getting to know you all over the next year.

Thanks to everyone who provided the morning’s entertainment at the Regional Council meeting on 14 June. I hope it inspired many of you in the audience to take part in PAC activities.

I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting – I was so pleased that everyone focused on a highlight or two. The second session was completely unplanned but worked surprisingly well!

Olein

From Anne Ansell

Regional Development

Officer’s report on the SISE Team Day

Over thirty members, including four first-timers, from nine Clubs attended Alton House Hotel on May 10 to share in a day of fun, friendship and furthering our knowledge of Soroptimism. Our theme this year was Communication. President Carole welcomed everyone and members introduced themselves. Our interesting ice-breaker was ‘What’s in your wallet’? and there was much chatter as we discovered what members carried about their persons! Who else but Rosalinda would have a corkscrew! We then looked at the basics of Communication and listed just how many types there are. We have come a long way since smoke signals and the quill pen! Today’s e-mail culture is both a blessing and a curse but, used correctly, it can be a good tool. This list of 10 sloppiest practices made several heads nod in agreement:

û Typing all in capitals – hard to read and ‘sounds’ rude

û Typing just in lower case – looks lazy

û Woolly subject line – email easily ignored

û No addressee – disrespectful

û Rambling – be brief and to the point

û Too brief – may sound aggressive

û Inappropriate style and tone – same rules as for letters, informality may not be OK

û Angry – think before you click, no recall

û Poor grammar – you will lose respect

û Poor spacing - use bullet points for clarity

We then did the ‘Mixed Wedding’ exercise. This again taught us not to assume and stereotype people. We need to ask the right questions and make sure that we have all the bits of information required to make a final decision!

Following coffee, Hilary Laidler gave an excellent presentation on selling Soroptimism, membership and PR. What does your Club offer to prospective members? Play to the strengths of members and get them involved. Use the Press for free publicity Make your article punchy, ensure that the first paragraph is eye catching and sums up your story. Research your audience and target the article. If you place an advertisement, try to ensure that it goes on the right hand side of the right hand page. And finally, remember SNIPE – Soroptimism In the Public Eye!

Using microphones correctly and having a good interview technique is all-important to get our message across. We were fortunate to have a dynamic duo called Edna and Dotty (aka Joyce Boorman and Debbie Rogers) to lead us through this exercise. We know now not to chew gum or wear noisy jewellery! Make sure the AV equipment is working prior to your interview/talk and do not fiddle with the microphone as it will cause a distraction. Do not be put off by the interviewer who may want you to talk about something else, so stick to your guns and keep on track.

After lunch and more networking, Pat McChesney and Olein Webster led us through the heady subject of on-line Programme Action forms. The journey starts with the Club, so tell your story and be creative! Use keywords and make sure that you explain why you did that particular Project/Charity etc. The site can be used to both submit reports and to browse existing reports.

In our final session we shared what we had learnt and discussed how we could best use the information. Many members said that their expectations had been met and felt more confident going back to their Clubs and implementing some of the suggestions covered. All in all a successful day. What shall we do next year?

The Mentoring Scheme continues throughout the Region and here again, valuable links are forged. Do please use your Mentors and if you are not sure who your Club Mentor is, please ask your Regional Representative or Tref Mitchell. Any member of the Development Team is more than happy to attend one of your Club meetings or help to run a training session with you. We are here to help you!

From Hope and Homes magazine, Hope News:

Although we only launched Project Sierra, our four year partnership with Soroptimist International, last year, it has already got off to a great start with Soroptimists worldwide getting involved.

Margaret Lobo, International President of Soroptimist International, recently visited the programme in Sierra Leone to see for herself the difference that your support is already making.

She said, “For the size of the staff in Sierra Leone, the outcomes are excellent and their dedication inspirational. I am proud that Soroptimist International can partner with Hope and Homes for Children and HANCI for Project SIerra and will promote the value of this project widely.

“The satisfaction, pride and happiness on the faces of the children and families was a gratifying and yet a humbling experience when the work to make it happen was considered.”

SISE working for

SI Elmbridge

Anne McDonald, Federation Project Sierra Liaison Officer, was the speaker at the club’s Supper Meeting on 19 June. Anne briefed SI Elmbridge (together with members from SI of Kingston and SI of Woking and Regional President Carole) on the latest news on Project Sierra.

The club took advantage of the wonderful website material to set up a display on the evening.

Anne Macdonald with Maggie Pryce,

Elmbridge Chairperson on the night

SI Chichester & District raised £197 for Project Sierra by turning to crime – see Club News

SI Gosport & Fareham’s Lean Lunch raised£270 for Project Sierra in March – see Inter-Club News.

OTHER FUNDRAISING EVENTS

At SI Gosport & Fareham’sFebruary business meeting Stella Astbury outlined the work of the Help for Heroes organisation, a newly formed charity helping those who have been wounded in Britain’s current conflicts, and said that a fundraising event, a Colossal Cake Sale, was taking place at Winchester on March 1. She asked members if they would bake a cake or make a donation.

After the event Stella reported that 17 cakes and money donations (£80 in total of which the club gave £30) had been taken to the event at which 1,000 cakes were sold, raising over £5,500.

Following the huge success of their first charity fashion show in May, SI Winchester proudly presented £6,000 to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, one of their chosen charities this year.

President Jean Coveyduck (left) presenting the money to Lynne Dadley of Hampshire & I of W Air in one of the colourful WoW bags

Just as pleasing for club members was the £750 raised by modelling and then selling the spectacular WoW bags at the show. These bags are so named because they are produced by the women of Wenceslao, a resettlement community in the Philippines and because they are a wonderful example of how rubbish, which would otherwise end up as landfill, can be reused to make products which are both attractive and useful. The money raised goes directly to the women who produce the bags. The income they derive from their talent for sewing makes a very significant difference to them and their families.

What is line-dancing? Is it dancing in a line? Not if you saw members and friends of SI Elmbridge in March! About sixty dancers (and sitters) donned boots and denims and shimmied down to the local hall at Whiteley Village. All ages were represented from 2 to 90 and everyone enjoyed themselves. The caller was Del Wilson, who managed admirably to teach the uninitiated a few steps to help them along the way. It was a joy to see the youngsters (that is the under 12s) picking up the moves and showing the more mature how to do it!

Good food and a raffle run by SI member Eve Bolton persuaded people to part with their hard-earned cash. Approximately £500 was raised for Education Projects supported by SI Elmbridge.

In April SI Epsom & District President Judith Kelly and Past President Marion Street received a huge welcome when they donated a cheque for £145 to Café Wednesday in Cheam Village. The café is run by MENCAP as a practical training scheme for local students. Hearing that they badly needed a dishwasher, members were delighted to donate half the proceeds from their February Quiz Night towards the purchase.

Judith and Marion handing over the cheque.

SI Woking & District did away with the bran tub presents and donated the money that would have spent to the International President’s Appeal. Together with some donations instead of Christmas cards this came to £117.50 for the Restoring Dignity Fund.

Sat 19 July at St. James Parish Hall saw SI Elmbridge and guests raise an estimated £1000 for WaterAid through a combination of local business sponsorship and activities of the Race Night evening. WaterAid is a charity the club has supported over a number of years.

The horses’ names included Hole in One, Twinkle Toes and Take the Biscuit and the jockeys were of all ages and sizes! Lots of laughter and good natured teasing resulted in a very enjoyable summer evening of fun and fundraising.

From L to R, ‘Jockeys’  Danny Sparkes, Robbi Robson, Suzette Jones and Alexis Neville.

SI Poole joined by family, colleagues, friends and Poole Bay Rotary for a fund-raising evening at the Gurkha Palace, Poole. The proceeds from the excellent meal and raffle raised £267 for the President’s Charities and one guest was so impressed with the club’s activities that she will be inducted to membership in May! Another ‘Can Do’ success.

SI Poole are very grateful toRegional President, Carole Atkinson, SI Bournemouth and SI Southampton for their continuing support in submitting a team and providing stewards at annual Swimarathon. SI Poole joined with Poole Bay Rotary to support Poole Lions’ 30th Swimarathon held at the Dolphin Pool in February. A cheque for £4000 was presented to Kay Walshe, a trustee of the Medaille Trust, by the Cllr. Jeff Allen, Mayor of Poole.

Soroptimist swimmers from SI Poole, Bournemouth and Southampton.

PAC NEWS

SI Chichester & District

Members of the club braved the March winds to peruse the City of Chichester for Fair Trade Shopping. They visited many shops for Fair Trade goods & distributed leaflets relating to SI & Fair Trade. President Val and Pat McChesney also attended a Fair Trade wine evening at the home of Liz Campling who is from the Chichester Fair Trade Group.

SI Woking & District

This year the club has again contributed to the Sheerwater and Maybury Partnership, a local charity championing improved reading literacy in local schools. The national average for low literacy is 19% but in Sheerwater and Maybury it is nearly double this figure. For many of these children English is their second language and is often not spoken at home. At one first school twenty-two different languages are spoken; there are some bilingual teaching assistants, but the school couldn’t afford a full complement. To encourage the pupils to read and learn English the Partnership provides children’s books for each child to take home. Some of us attended the presentations; it was a delight to watch. Receiving a book all for themselves for the first time in their life obviously felt very special. As a club we want to try and continue this support in coming years.

Every year hundreds of school leavers whose reading age lags two or three years behind because at school they couldn’t catch up with the main teaching language, English. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realise what that means for further education and employability.

The Woking Community Play Association is planning a community play telling “The Ockenden Story”. Because Ockenden started in Woking, SI Woking has contributed enormously to the research undertaken for this play. We have supplied information on the club’s involvement at the very start and on UK PAC activities in support of Ockenden over the years.

SIWoking’s PAC group organised a WaterAid awareness stand in one of the covered shopping centres in Woking on World Water Day, 22 March 2008. We concentrated on raising awareness and asking people to sign lobby cards. We were pleased we were under cover - it was one of those November-weather-days in March! During the four hours we were there, our efforts were rewarded with some 50 people completing lobby cards on the spot. We posted these so ensuring that they reached their intended destination. Others took information home with them and we can but hope that they did something with them.

Water Aid on World Water Day

SI Poole

DCI Steve Bartlett of Dorset Police spoke to members of SI Poole, Bournemouth and Southampton about his work with ‘Pentameter 2’ at the club’s February meeting. President Elect, Penny Bartlett enthused, “Steve has been able to give us guidance towards an effective crusade to support the efforts of ‘Pentameter 2’ both nationally and locally. He reassured us that our continuing support for the Medaille Trust, which provides a safe house for trafficked women, was appropriate.”

DCI Steve Bartlett who spoke about Pentameter 2

SI Kingston upon Thames & District

Three club members, Christine Hay, Sheila Griffin, and Joan Brown, attended the Capitalwoman Conference held at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre and Central Hall, Westminster, on 8^th March, International Women’s Day.

Capitalwoman, now in its eighth year, kicked off with the Mayor and a range of guest speakers including US civil rights activist Angela Davis, Diane Abbott MP and environmentalist Maria Adebowale.

Offering a chance to have a say in the way the capital is run, the day featured an exciting programme of workshops, exhibitions, non-traditional careers and business advice as well as fashion, film, comedy and music.

At their Tuesday Supper Meeting on 8^th. April the club was pleased to welcome Uri Winterstein of Peace Now. The title of his talk was “What we are trying to achieve “.

Peace Now is the largest extra-parliamentary movement in Israel, the country’s oldest peace movement and the only peace group to have a broad public base. The movement was founded in 1978 during the Israeli-Egyptian peace talks.

The basic principles of the movement from the outset were the right of Israel to live within secure borders and the right of its neighbours to the same, including the right of the Palestinians to self-determination. In time the movement became convinced that the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the territories occupied in the 1967 war is the only viable solution to the conflict. Fully supporting the break-through represented by the 1993 Oslo Accords, Peace Now has consistently supported any and all steps promising to promote resolution of the conflict, in addition to pressing all parties in power in the country to initiate steps to bring about the end of the occupation and negotiations for peace.

SI Elmbridge

St John Ambulance Community First Aid Training

Six club members attended an Emergency Life Support – Adult training programme on Saturday morning 5 April at the Hersham St John Ambulance facility. A 2007 PAC meeting on ‘Health in the Community’ inspired club members when they were introduced to the possibility of this training. It also meets one of the ‘Can Do Campaign’ challenges of supporting and working with other recognised groups in the community.

Members participated in some very practical hands-on training including resuscitation and severe bleeding bandaging. President Danny brought a bit of light heartedness to the proceedings by play-acting as an injured person as member Margaret Crellin patiently consoled and dressed her ‘wounds’.

After only 3 hours all the participants, Doris Stables, Francie Mcilwraith, Danny Sparkes, Margaret Crellin, Terese Kramer & Margaret Bates, passed the training with flying colours and will receive certificates of competence for training in handling severe bleeding, chest pains, choking, communication and primary survey, unconscious casualty and resuscitation.

In support of the club’s on-going relationship with Burhill Infant School, a crew of members showed up on International Women’s Day with spring plants and gardening tools to do a bit of spring gardening. Despite the blustery weather, the crew was satisfied that progress has been made on the garden at the school. To show its support of Fair-trade, members had home baked Fair-trade goodies for their tea break.

Club President Danny Sparkes shows the results of team effort.

INTER-CLUB EVENTS

SI Gosport & Fareham organised the annual Lean Lunch in March held in conjunction with three other clubs in the region. They were given a first-hand account of the valuable work being carried out under Project Sierra by Alex Ginn, community fundraiser for Hope and Homes for Children. Alex had just returned from visiting Sierra Leone along with Federation president Margaret Lobo and project liaison officer Anne MacDonald.

“Nothing can prepare you for the shocking level of poverty,” said Mrs Ginn. In a passionate talk illustrated with photographs she spoke of the very warm welcome they received.

“Women were so keen to say how grateful they are for the help we are giving them.”

At the lunch SI Gosport & Fareham raised around £270 for Project Sierra. It is the fifth such event to be held jointly between Gosport and Fareham, Southampton, Chichester and Winchester clubs.

Presidents Valerie Mitchell (Chichester), Carole Atkinson (SISE), Alison Jenkins (Gosport & Fareham) and Lesley Courtney (Southampton) with guest speaker, Alex Ginn, in the centre.

This yearit was the turn of SI Chichester & District to organisethe inter-club skittles competition between Chichester, Southampton and Winchester clubs, one of fun highlights in the annual social calendar.More than thirty women, and a handful of Soroptimisters, descended on the Bull’s Head at Fishbourne for an evening of friendly competition and the chance to renew old friendships.

Winchester, champions in 2007, retained the title, Southampton were runners up with Chichester taking the wooden spoon. Top individual scorer was SI Gosport & Fareham’s press officer Kay Mainwaring.

CLUB NEWS

SI Bournemouth’s 70^th Anniversary in March

Please see the special supplement for this event.

From SI Chichester & District

Members of the club were sad to say goodbye to Judith Dawtrey who has been a key member of Portsmouth & Chichester SI clubs over many years. Judith has left the South Coast to be nearer her daughter who lives in Cheltenham. The club is very grateful for her valuable input over the years & wish her luck in her new surroundings.

Soroptimists turn to crime!

Local crime writer, Peter Lovesey was the guest speaker at the Soroptimist Annual Luncheon held at Bishop Otter Campus of Chichester University in February.

Peter spoke about early women crime writers in the Golden Age of the 1920’s, just at the time when the first Soroptimist club was formed. This was followed by an amusing account of his “brush with Hollywood”.

The Fairtrade themed lunch was attended by 72 Soroptimists from across the Southern region and Peter kindly donated several of his books as raffle prizes. The sum of £197 was raised for Project Sierra.

Crime writer, Peter Lovesey, addressing club members and guests

Crime was also the theme of a talk given by Crime Prevention Officer, Mike Cogger, who spoke on crime prevention and personal safety. He touched on Traffic Police, tackling graffiti and trafficking. West Sussex police are closely involved with safe houses and play an active part at Gatwick Airport in the event of any possible suspicious entries.

New President Barbara Chaundy welcomed Allen Parton as speaker at the club’s AGM. Allen is was injured in the Gulf War whilst serving in the Royal Navy and left severely disabled. He was at his lowest ebb after five years in hospital when Endal, a yellow labrador, came along quite by accident. Allen’s life was transformed as the relationship developed. Endal is constantly at Allen’s side, anticipating his needs and carrying out a number of tasks including withdrawing money from a cash machine, loading and unloading the washing machine and, on one occasion, turning Allen into the recovery position when he fell and became unconscious. Not happy with that he then summoned help from a nearby hotel.

Members were amazed by this extraordinary dog; there seems to be no limit to his ability in caring for Allen. They were both an inspiration to members, teaching values without even trying.

Allen Parton and canine partner, Endal

From SI Poole

In April members celebrated the refurbishment of the top floor of Phyllis Feistner House. It has been totally refurbished to provide four brand new apartments. The opening ceremony was performed by Mrs Mary Kingsley, former chair of the Soroptimist (Poole) Housing Associationmanagement committee. Club members, both past and present, are involved in the management of two buildings belonging to the association.

Members welcomedChris Hurlock and his daughter, Kimberley, to their January business meeting. Chris is Centre Principal at Harbour Challenge, a charity based water-sports centre providing a very high quality, professional teaching service for youth and adults alike. The Poole-based charity runs water sports courses for the children of Poole and neighbouring authorities, with specific focus on those from the Hamworthy and Turlin Moor areas of Poole as well as children with special needs. Chris gave an overview of the charity’s roots, history and current positioning whilst Kimberley talked from the heartabout her experiences whilst learning to sail with Harbour Challenge and how this has helped her grow into the confident young lady that she is today.

Club members decided to develop their own PR skills and invited local Director, Darren Northeast, of Spiralmpr, to give them some professional direction at their March business meeting. Darren’s company is one of the new and improved breed of PR Agency using Public Relations strategies and techniques to achieve Marketing objectives. Spiralmpr has a broad range of clients and contacts in the PR and media fields including Peter Osborne, the Big Chef. Darren gave the club huge encouragement by congratulating us on our PR efforts in both current and past projects. He recommended a plan to involve local media attention to the raise the profile of SI Poole and therefore SI generally. So watch this space – SI Poole is doing its best!

From SI Kingston upon Thames & District

On 6^th April fifty members and guests attended the club’s 64^th Annual Charter Lunch at the Tangawzi Restaurant near Richmond Bridge. President Sue dubbed the occasion “An Indian Experience“. Amongst the guests were three former members of the club who had travelled from Salisbury and Scotland and members from Regional and London clubs.

The picture shows Deborah Tosler, Sue Waters and Carole Atkinson enjoying an Indian Experience.

The evening proved to be a very enjoyable one, enhanced by Indian classical music and a sari-tying demonstration. Many of those present appeared in Indian dress and this added jewel colours to the occasion.

From SI Gosport & Fareham

A wonderful array of quilts provided the backdrop for a fascinating talk in February.

Mrs Marilyn Lovatt (seen here with President Alison Jenkins), belongs to an organisation called Scrap Happy Quilters and is a trustee of the national Quilters’ Guild. She said quilts were made for all sorts of reasons and they often had a function and some historic ones had meanings woven into them.

As an example, she quoted the Changi quilts made during the Second World War by women interned by the Japanese at the infamous Singapore jail. Three quilts were made, one each for the Red Cross organisations of Britain, Australia and Japan.

“The women embroidered something into their work that revealed their identity so that their husbands and families would realise they were still alive,” she said.

Mrs Lovatt illustrated her talk with an impressive number of quilts ranging from bedspreads to wall hangings and an ingenious small Christmas tree-shaped decoration made of fabric covered bottle tops.

Could any of her quilts become heirlooms of the future, she was asked? “Do you know, I really don’t care too much because I’ve had so much enjoyment from my hobby,” she replied.

Veteran member Gillian Harris gave a brief report at the April business meeting about her visit in March to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms in the basement of the Treasury building in Whitehall.

She said she had been delighted to receive an invitation from the Conservative Party to tour the museum and to have dinner at an event hosted by MP Nicholas Soames, Churchill’s grandson.

During the Second World War Gillian, a retired head teacher, had spent three years as a temporary civil servant at the War Cabinet Office so she was thrilled to return there.

A variety of smells and tastes were on offer when club member Sue Baddeley gave a talk on a fairly unusual subject – Aromatherapy for Animals. Members heard all about the essential oils that can be used to treat animals.

Dr Baddeley is London & SE Regional manager for VETNET Life Long Learning, the network aiming to improve and extend the range of opportunities for vocational learners in animal and veterinary related higher education.

She began by stating unequivocally that aromatherapy complemented traditional treat-ment.

“If you have a sick animal, see a vet,” she advised. However, almost all her consultations came about after clients had been unhappy with the results of conventional treatment.

She explained that smell was very important to animals, it helped them to recognise other members of their group or litter as well as to alert them to the presence of predators.

Some oils contained as many as 300 chemicals so therapists needed to be well versed in what an oil contained and what it could be used to treat.

“Some oils are dangerous in some cir-cumstances,” she said. “For instance, bergamot is photo-toxic so it could cause burns unless used as an overnight treatment or the patient is kept in the shade.”

Members were able to smell a wide range of oils – lavender, seaweed, ginger and frankincense among others.

A coffee morning was held at the home of president Alison Jenkins to raise funds for her charity, the Fareham-based Rainbow Centre.

Among the guests was George, toddler son of social convenor Sharon Philip, and two former club members. As well as coffee, cakes and scones, there was a range of items on the Bring and Buy table plus lots of books. Around twenty or so people attended the event that raised £115.05.

From SI Epsom & District

At their AGM on April 14^th members were delighted to welcome Judith Kelly as their new President. Judith joined the club in 2003, having just retired as CEO of Epsom Age Concern. She is now the Chair of Central Surrey Council for Voluntary Service and represents SI Epsom & District on the Board.

From SI Winchester & District

424 Years of Service!

On the occasion of its AGM in April the club took the opportunity to recognise the long service of twelve of its members. Each received a certificate and citation.

Long service award winners (from L to R, with years service in brackets)

Standing: Rosie Baker (28), Janet Ford (55), Jo Gilbertson (33), Marie Collie (28), Arlene Fisher (37), Sylvia Stops (32), Cynthia Bryant (25), Laraine Marriott (30).

Seated: Pat Thornton (49), Vee Coleman-Rowthorn (46), Margaret Lovell (28). Jenny Drake (33) could not attend.

The club also celebrated gaining ten new members this year, two having transferred from other clubs

Founder member Vee Coleman-Rowthorn (seated) with nine of the club’s new members

From SI Woking & District

SIWD Woman in the Community this year is Margot Craig of Horsell Care. (Horsell is one of the villages within Woking Borough.) For a number of years now SI Woking has run the Woman in the Community award together with Rotary of Woking’s Man in the Community. Together we call for nominations and together we organise the judging and the administration. Presentation of the awards is usually separate. Margot received her certificate from Carole Atkinson, President of Southern Region at the club’s annual dinner on 4 April. The Man in the Community will receive his award at a Rotary function in a few months time.

Within her theme “Aspects of Environment” president Marlie had engaged marine biologist John Arnott, wildlife officer with the organisation “Marinelife” as guest speaker at that dinner. John gave an excellent illustrated talk entitled “Whales and Dolphins on our Doorstep, their Ecology and Environment”, giving an overview of the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme (BDRP). It made us even more determined to ensure that any waste we produce is either recycled or otherwise properly disposed of so that it doesn’t end up in these animals’ digestive system and ultimately kill them. Passengers on regular ferries plying between our southern ports and northern Spain can watch the sea-mammals and the BDRP-work from close by. Website: www.marine-life.org.uk John Arnott gave his time and expertise free but had asked a donation to BDRP instead; this was made possible by one of the Soroptimisters.

The raffle generated most generous proceeds - £300 - to be added to the funds for The York Road Project and Woking ShopMobility. Elaine Evans had managed to find some very good prizes.

NEW MEMBERS

SI Epsom has one new member:

Irene Gunson - PA to a Project Manager.

SI Winchester has six new members:

Pamela Brooker – Teacher

Anna Elder – Teacher (from SI The Hague)

Farah Kidy – Medical Practitioner

Punita Sharma - GP

Charlotte Underwood – Forensic Psychiatrist

Of course Liz Morgan-Lewis is neither new to SI nor to the Region but she has transferred from SI Guildford to Si Winchester. The club is very pleased to welcome her.

A VERY WARM WELCOME TO YOU ALL!

FRIENDSHIP NEWS

SI Woking & District

Three members of our Friendship link, SI Hesbaye in Belgium, came over for the weekend of SI Woking’s Annual Dinner. Having left very early on Friday 4 April, they arrived back home late on Sunday evening. In between they experienced all weathers: warm and sunny spring weather on arrival, cold and sunny when visiting the gardens and the new glass house at RHS Wisley, bucketing rain (but fortunately we were inside watching Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker ballet) and snow on Sunday morning, which the sun had dealt with again by the time they were leaving Woking.

The club and our guests were very grateful to Audrey Taylor and Kath Heatley for providing B & B hospitality in their homes. On Sunday morning Kath and her husband Fred hosted even a traditional English breakfast at the open fire side; we were fourteen around their table in a ‘room with a view’ over the white garden and fields beyond. Apart from the annual dinner, most of the other meals were enjoyed in club members’ homes on a ‘bring and eat’ basis. Needless to say, lots and lots of chat regardless of the fact that only one of us is fluent in French (some get by reasonably); two of the Belgians speak good English, the third - though not an English speaker - could understand us so long we didn’t go too fast. It is really great fun.

It was nice that quite a few of our Soroptimisters made use of the opportunities during this weekend to join in and catch up with each other.

The picture shows the Wokingers pointing out to the Hesbayers which of the laminated hand prints on display in The Lightbox, Gallery and Museum are ours. The unusual building, designed by a team led by Marks Barfield Architects, creators of the London Eye, houses amongst other a permanent exhibition on Woking’s history.

When our Belgian sisters returned they took our collection of wine bottle corks with them; in Belgium these are collected for recycling.

We have already been invited to come to Hesbaye in October 2009 to help them celebrate their 25^th anniversary. The Hesbaye region is west of Liège.

SI Gosport & Fareham

Former president Ursula Esnault reported on a visit to one of the club’s friendship links, SI Chennai in India, where she spent two days.

She stayed with Amala Emmanuel, who lived in England before retiring back to India where she and her husband decided to devote their time to helping the less fortunate in their city.

They set up two projects, one helping needy elderly and the other children living on rubbish dumps. SI Chennai helped to fund a school set up by Amala and, although there had been visible improvements since her last visit, Ursula said conditions remained very basic.

“Children are still writing on slates and sitting on the floor and there are very old posters on rough walls,” she said.

Several members suggested helping the Chennai club and Ursula has agreed to liaise with Amala about the best way to do this.

SI Winchester & District

In April eight club members travelled to Norway to make a return visit to our friendship link club in Stavanger. We were overwhelmed by the warmth of our reception, by the hospitality we received in members’ homes and by the care given to preparing a full and varied programme for us. This included a conducted tour of the cathedral by the Dean who is herself a Soroptimist, a fascinating visit to the Sardine Canning Museum and a visit to a monastery in a beautiful lakeside setting. Best of all were the lavish meals of local produce prepared for us by our hostesses!

President Jean braved the fjord in gale force winds to vist the summer home of her hosts.

FOOTNOTE – A COMMENT COLUMN

This issue’s contribution comes from Sue Waters, IPP SI Kingston

Reflections on being President

Our AGM was on April 23^rd, and I handed over the baton, so to speak, to our President Elect. Surprisingly, the year has gone quickly, and it feels as though there is suddenly not enough time to finish up projects and tie up loose ends. In fact it feels like a bit of an anti-climax. Instead of feeling on a high (so much achieved!!), the dominant feelings tend to be the negative ones, so trying to go beyond those, what useful reflections do I have?

Being president is challenging, energising, but at the same time very tiring. The job does tend to take over one’s life in spite of the best of intentions. I think it must be quite difficult to combine it with another full-time paid job, ‘though I suppose being a “carer” (a word I hate), and doing some part-time work is actually more than a full-time job.

Being President is a very personal thing. There is no actual job description, other than the generic “leading the club”. We all have our own styles of leadership, and our own priorities for what we want to achieve. I am not sure that one has to have had a great deal of experience of Soroptimism, a great deal of knowledge, or any specific skills. All professional women have some transferable skills that are useful, and given that it is as much a team effort (you plus the club) as an individual one, a willingness to try, is perhaps the best qualification, and it helps to have some energy and a vision for oneself and the club.

How does one evaluate “achievement”? Our club has done so many good things this year. Many of these are Programmme Action, and would probably have been accomplished no matter who was leading. Most have been recorded in earlier editions of this newsletter. There have been many individual acts of personal service.

We have at last got the beginnings of our website up and running (it needs some polishing) and finished the Programme Focus Reports. We have been able to tick most of the boxes on the “Can DO Campaign” feedback form. We have had two great, non fundraising social events, the Albert Hall Concert Spectacular last November, and just recently, the annual Charter lunch, with a difference; an Indian experience.

Clearly there have been many highlights. The unfinished business relates to how we organise ourselves and how we function and is about change, which is hard to accomplish overnight, because it challenges attitudes and beliefs and people need to move out of their comfort zones. We have started on that journey and made a few steps. There is a planned “Away Day” on the shelf, and we need to find a date and get commitment and involvement. I have been particularly concerned about our club’s image and how we attract a younger membership. It has taken most of my year to explore through our working parties, all aspects of these areas and to come up with a number of recommendations that are now being considered by our executive. It is frustratingly slow progress, but we have made a start. For me, the question is what next? What is the role of “immediate past president”? Maybe standing on the side lines, shouting and encouraging.

WEBSITES RELATING TO ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk

http://www.projectsierra.org

and do take a look at

http://www.soroptimist-gbi.org – it’s brand new!

Copy deadline Publication date

Mid October late October

Mid January late January

Mid April late April

Mid July late July

Many thanks to all who contributed towards this issue. Please send your news and views for the next issue to:

Ann Scott of SI Winchester & District

E: annbscott@btinternet.com (preferred for copy)

T: 01962 843431 M: 07860 799131

A: Minster House, Great Minster Street, Winchester SO23 9HA

DATES TO NOTE

30 Aug SI Gosport & Fareham Annual Function

17 Sep Regional PAC Meeting

20 Sep Regional AGM (see opp)

28 Sep SI Reigate Annual Function

5 Oct SI Southampton Annual Lunch

16 Oct SI Poole Fashion Show (see opp)

18 Oct SI Winchester Annual Dinner

19 Oct SI Poole Annual Lunch (see opp)

23 Oct SI Chichester Friendship Eve (see opp)

25 Oct SI Winchester Holly Fair (see opp)

30 Oct-1 Nov Federation Conference

10 Nov Taki Concordia Lunch

UPCOMING EVENTS IN SOUTHERN REGION