Archive of Social Events
Fun and Friendship is a Club must!
We also enjoy getting together on more social occasions. Each year in the spring we have a supper meeting, in December the Christmas dinner, and usually in June a mid summer evening out, (in 2009 a pub meal and boat ride on the Cam, in 2010 a visit to Madingley Hall gardens). Members’ significant birthdays – those which end in 0 – are always an excuse for a celebratory meal, and at the end of our club year in April the outgoing President celebrates with a ‘Party’.
A more formal celebration is the club’s annual lunch or dinner, which takes place in one of the Cambridge Colleges.
Visits to the theatre in London or locally are organised on an irregular basis, the latest being ‘Sister Act’, ‘Calendar Girls and ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream coat’
The Annual Lunch
The venue for the Annual Lunch was the College of St Mary Magdalene, which is located in the centre of Cambridge beside the bridge on the River Cam, from which the city takes its name. The College has its origins in the year 1428 when King Henry VI approved the establishment of a hostel on the site for Benedictine monks coming from their abbey monasteries in the Fenland to study Canon Law at the University.
Thanks are due to Jane Pearson, who played a large part in the arrangements, for what was a most enjoyable occasion, with good food and an excellent and apposite speech from the Master of the College, Duncan Robinson. President Janet was pleased to see representatives from most clubs in our Region, as well as friends from our link club Walsall, and many of our own club members. She also welcomed representatives from her charity the Parkinson’s Disease Society as her guests.
Some of the visitors went on to visit the flower festival at All Saints Church in Jesus Lane, where the club had sponsored a window, complete with banner and information about Soroptimism, an unusual venue for some promotion.
Supper and Boat Trip
Every summer club members relax and enjoy an evening of fun, food and fellowship. This year twenty-eight members and Soroptimisters met at the Plough at Fen Ditton for a meal. Following this we crossed the garden to the river, where the open long boat ‘Rosie’ was waiting for us.
We went slowly up the Cam to Jesus Lock, enjoying the tranquillity of the countryside before reaching Cambridge. It was interesting to see buildings normally viewed from the land from another angle. Additionally we saw new buildings, which have sprung up by the waterside, and discussed the possibility that some must be subject to flooding.
After carefully turning below the lock we made our way back enjoying a hot drink. Nearing Fen Ditton we were met by eight swans serenely swimming in their river.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening.