JOINT REGIONAL CONFERENCE AT KENDAL
The 72nd Joint Regional Conference took place 8-10 May at the Castle Green Hotel, Kendal, and was attended by several members of the Club in both residential and day delegate capacities. (See members below with Marion Fogarty of Preston - Betty and Olga also attended but missed the photocall on this occasion!)
The theme of the Conference was “FAIR” - be it “Start”, “Chance” or Trade” and the weekend started with a Friendship Evening on Friday, where delegates and guests were entertained by Hilary Shepherd (of Maureen Cookson’s at Whalley) who presented a wonderful show of the latest summer fashions and gave excellent and entertaining tips for packing your suitcase!
Saturday gave excellent input from a variety of speakers - Dr Margaret Emsley spoken on Women in Engineering and gave an interesting insight into the industry and women’s chances of entering the profession. Karen Rainford then gave an emotive input on her charity “Miles of Smiles” - Karen joined Soroptimists only recently and attended Regional Past President Linda’s “New Members Evening” last year. She gives young carers the opportunity to make a wish come true and her charity is very local and personal. After coffee, George Platt spoke on fairness in business and the importance of including all employees in the decision making process and of “giving something back” to the community.
Lunch gave us the opportunity to catch up with friends and to sell “Purple Teardrops” - a successful venture over the weekend. The post-lunchtime session introduced us to Sameen Ali who had managed to escape from a forced marriage and abuse - but at a great personal cost. Her story emphasised the need for our continued support for our projects involving these issues. We then heard from Andy Perry about her “Round the World” yacht race and Susan Biggs gave some final input on the future projects for the Federation and the Study Day to be held in Reading in 2010.
After a brief relaxation period, delegates and guests once more assembled for the Gala Dinner where an invitation had been extended to dress up as a famous person.
A good time was had by all and many joined in the fun (see Val Moss (South Lancs), Chris Adams (Barrow) and Regional President Elect Sharon Greenhow as Charlie Chaplin, Jane Austen and Cleopatra).
The excellent meal was rounded off by excellent entertainment provided by Blackburn People’s Choir who were superb.
Sunday morning began with stories from former Town Crier of Ulverston and Kendal, Michael Wilding, who entertained with tales of his life in this role. Michael was following by Pauline Bibby and Sue Coole of the Red Cross who showed the marvellous work undertaken by them in providing skin camouflage. The final session involved our Programme Action areas - Trafficking from the North West and the Miracle (Moringa) Tree from South Lancs - followed by the call to Conference next year at the De Vere Daresbury.
A wonderful weekend of information, friendship and fun.