Reports on activities for club year April 2010 – April 2011

17th April 2011 -  The quarterly Beach Clean of Swanbridge beach was achieved in double quick time as 11 members met to underdtake the task.  The clean was followed by lunch in the Captain’s Wife where we were able to sit in the sunny garden.

                                         

16th April 2011 - On a sunny Spring day, 32 members from SI Cardiff and neighbouring clubs enjoyed a visit to Dewstow Gardens preceded by lunch in Golf Club. 

14th April 2011 - Walking  Group – 5 walked through a short walk through Radyr woods and round Forest Farm and along the canal.  

1st April 2011 - Meeting of the SI Cardiff and District Education Trust – minutes available to members.

26th March 2011 several members met informally at Churchill’s with visitors from other soroptimist clubs primarily our friends from our friendship link clubs of SI Kenilworth and SI Frederiksberg Denmark.  Churchill’s, in conjuncion with SI Cardiff and District took part in EARTH HOUR see wwf.org.uk/earthhour.

19th March 2011 Walking  Group – walk from Quakers Yard to Pontypridd on Taff Trail. 

15th March 2011 7.30 pm - meeting of events committee – minutes available to members

9th March 2011 7.30 pm Business meeting Churchill’s Hotel followed by a short talk by President Anne’s friend Lea Hurst who spoke about Women and Peace in Literature.

5th March 2011  A collection in aid of Water Aid took place at Cowbridge Farmer’s Market – 10am – 12.30pm.  Thanks to Karen Yates for getting permission to collect, to Kay for the buckets, to Cathy for the arrangements and to members who collected £129!

1st March 2011 7.30 pm Executive meeting Churchill’s Hotel Cardiff Road, minutes available to members

27th February 2011 At Home 3pm – 5pm at President Anne’s.  Members enjoyed an afternoon at Anne’s home – a delicious afternoon tea and an opportunity to meet and chat.

26th February 2011 several members met a representative from Keep Wales Tidy to discuss the idea of ‘adopting’ the brook in Roath Park for a clean-up campaign. 

23rd  February 2011 7.30 pm Churchill’s hotel Cardiff Road.  Supper meeting with speaker, Rev’d Anthony Wintall who read passages from Dickens, Blake and Shakespeare about Love.

19th February 2011 Walking group - 3rd walk of recently formed group.  

15th February 2011 Meeting Programme Action Committee - Minutes available to club members 

10th February 2010 - Meeting of SI Cardiff & District Education Trust 2.30pm Sheila G’s home – Following Jill Delgado’s return from Cape Verde where she met all of the girls supported by the Trust and many of the former girls, she gave an update of their progress and of the finances of the Trust which are looking healthy.  Chairman Enid Child presented Anne Morgan, founder trustee, former chairman and secretary was presented with beautiful flowers as a thank you for her work.  At the next meeting in April, fundraising plans for 2011 will be agreed. 

9th February 2010 7.30 pm Business meeting Churchill’s Hotel.  The business of the meeting included notification that the Federation President was speaking at the regional meeting on 12th February; details of forthcoming meetings and events; international women’s day on 8th March; helpers needed for the Water Aid collection on 5th March at Cowbridge Farmer’s market. 

Joan Payne gave an interesting ‘job talk’.  Joan is an NVQ assessor which includes teaching adults numeracy and literacy skills to improve their job prospects.

26th  January 2011 Supper meeting 7.30 pm Supper Meeting Churchill’s hotel Cardiff Road with speaker, Tito Geromino.    

22nd  January 2011 - Beach clean Swanbridge. 

18th January 2011 – Programme action meeting,  minutes circulated to committee members

Saturday 15th January Walk – Six members set off from Radyr station and walked to Llandaff to meet two more members for coffee before emabarking on the 2nd leg of our walk along the Taff Trail to Cardiff Bay.  Great day, concluding at Kemi’s for lunch – and we didn’t have wall to wall rain as forecast. 

12th January 2011- First business meeting of the year.  President Giselle inducted new member Ann Simkin an ophthalmic optician.  Ann, pictured in left photo below with sponsors Enid (far left) and Cherry (far right), is the 5th new member of the club this year.  Amongst the reports given was one on allocation of funds raised  to date. 27 £10 vouchers had been taken to Barnardos before Christmas.  The 3 charities chosen by club members in the ballot were Wallich Clifford, George Thomas Hospice and Cardiff Institute for the Blind.  President Giselle handed the chain of office to Anne Dunne pictured below in rh picture. Anne will be president until April.  Giselle said how delighted she was that Anne is now fit enough to take office following her long illness.  After the club business, new(ish) member Venerable Peggy Jackson gave a fascinating job talk.  Peggy is the most senior female cleric in the Church in Wales having attained the highest position for a woman in the Anglican Church.    

7th January 2011- Executive meeting, minutes circulated to members.

15th December 2010 – Prior to enjoying a super Christmas meal at our meeting place, Churchill’s hotel. Marcella Price, an accountant was inducted as a new member.  Surely the first member to be inducted * dressed as a gangster!  Following the meal, members and guests were given chips (gambling ones!) to try their hand in the  ** Casino set up by President Giselle’s family.  Many members accepted the invitation of dressing up as a moll or a gangster some disobeying the instruction of bringing shooters!  £72.80 was raised in aid of the International President’s appeal.

Pictured below – * President Giselle and Marcella

               ** trying our luck at the tables

To view more photos see http://soroptimist-gbi.org/cardiff-and-district/previous-years-activities/reports-of-activities-for-club-year-april-2010-april-2011/photo-gallery/

5th December 2010 – The first walk of the newly formed walking group - 8 members circumnavigated Cardiff Bay.  Starting at the Norwegian Church we crossed the Barrage, through Penarth Marina, over the new Pont-y-Werin bridge (see picture below) stopping for a coffee on the balcony of the White Water Rafting Centre.  We resumed the walk along the board walk crosssing the River Taff at Clarence Road Bridge and headed towards Kemi’s for lunch.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable and fun day on a glorious sunny but icy day.   

Supper meeting on 24th November 2010 followed by a talk and demonstration from the Allyson Burnell ‘Body Shop at Home.’   £212.48 was raised on the evening in aid of local charities.

18th November 2010 – President Giselle and President Elect Cathy Grove visited the Barnados family centre and handed over 27 £10 Boots vouchers as a Christmas gift for some of the young girls in the care of Barnados 

Business meeting 10th November 2010.    President Giselle inducted two new members; interior designer Sandra Ajax (2nd left in first picture below)  and Marilyn Godfrey, (2nd left in 2nd picture below)  a former lecturer in dance and now a life coach therapist.

Executive meeting 2nd November 2010, minutes circulated to members.

21st – 23rd October 2010 SIGIB Conference in Manchester                    

Six members of SI Cardiff attended the 76^th SIGBI Conference at Manchester Central (formerly the G-Mex Centre),  a splendid venue, with acres of space under huge arched ceilings. Event organisation was excellent – everything running to time and no queues for coffee!   Highlights were the moving ceremony of the presentation of the flags of the Federation;  the Programme Action reports;  Dr Ian Oliver’s principled stance on drug abuse policy;  Satish Kumar’s impassioned call for one-ness with nature;  Bill Turnbull’s entertaining anecdotes on bee-keeping;  Lesley Abdela’s work on human rights and conflict resolution; the impressive joint projects being developed between Friendship Link clubs; and the change of insignia ceremony, where we saw Sue Thomas hand over to Carys Brown as Wales South Regional President.  And what did they do in their down time? Took a tram to Salford Quays and the excellent Lowry exhibition; discovered a delightful Italian restaurant (more railway arches); enjoyed the good humour of the Mancunians; and had fun with friends as the wine flowed ……….. oh, and one or two people went shopping. 

Sunday 17th October 2010 – following the greatly enjoyable visit to Glyndwr Vineyard in July, several members re-visited the vineyard to pick grapes.  It was the last picking day of the year and was a beautiful warm sunny day.  At the end of the pick, members enjoyed a sumptuous late lunch cooked by vineyard owner Sue Norris (please join us Sue!) with the accompaniment of wine of course.

Saturday 16th October 2010 –  Tea Party at President’s Giselle’s home – A ‘great time was had by all’ and at the same time, £613 was raised for local charities.  Crafts made by Jacquie James were sold as were items made and gifts donated by Giselle’s daughters, Steph and Chantelle.   The food was plentiful and tasty as was the coffee, sparkling wine and buck’s fizz (who said it was a tea party!) 

Business meeting 13th October 2010.   Voting on conference resolutions; last call for nominations for local charity donations.

2nd October 2010 – Newtown - 3 members went to the inaugural debating competition for the Girl Guides organised by SI Wales South.

Also during October, 15 washbags plus bedlinen and baby  
clothes were delivered to  Caerphilly Women’s Services, now part of Llamau.

Supper meeting on 22nd September 2010 with speaker Gill Bell from the Marine Conservation.  After giving a general introduction to the Society’s work ,  particularly for the benefit of new members, Gill tailored her presentation to the results of the club’s own beach cleaning work at  Swanbridge. It was fascinating to hear how our data contribute to  national results and to MCS lobbying of the WAG Environment Minister  about the current state of Wales’ beaches.

Members gathered on 19th September 2010 for the quarterly beach clean of Swanbridge beach followed by lunch in the Captain’s Wife.

On 15th September 2010, Pat Kernick,  one of the club’s longest serving members celebrated her 90th birthday with family and friends – including many soroptimist friends.  Her party was at the fabulous venue of the National Museum of Wales Museum in Cardiff.  Following canapes and drinks, guests enjoyed a buffet supper and birthday cake and were delighted to join in a toast to Pat.

In  September our intrepid explorer Cherry Wright climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. This is 2,000 feet higher than Base Camp on Mount Everest  which Cherry climbed to last year.  She herself has reminded us, she is a year older and this time she’ll be camping, at   –20C!!  Have you ever thought  of taking up knitting Cherry?  Cherry invited sponsorship in aid of Licking Lassa Fever. 

   http://licking-lassa-fever.org.uk/ 

11th September 2010

Six members joined the regional walk for Peace along Aberafon seafront following the quarterly regional meeting.  The walk was to mark the International Day of Peace.

Business meeting 8th September 2010.  President Pat, having completed her 4 month term of office, handed the president’s chain to President Giselle wishing her all the very best.  Pat thanked members for their sterling support during her term which she very much enjoyed.  During the meeting, various reports were given including the good news that the Landmine Action campaign we have been supporting has led to the ban which is now international law.  

Great Taff Tidy - Saturday 4th September 2010

Six members and friends, set about cleaning the right hand edge and bank of the River Taff near Nantgarw.  Under the supervision of Ben, from ‘Keep Wales Tidy’, with wellies, gloves, and litter-pickers the lane alongside the river, the bank and water’s edge were cleaned of discarded metal, litter and plastic. Paper and cardboard are biodegradable but metal and plastic can take hundreds of years to decompose. This is not only unsightly, but it can also pose a serious threat to wildlife. Several bags were filled which would be picked up later by council workers. The litter would be sorted, and disposed of in the correct manner. 

Executive meeting on 2nd September 2010 minutes circulated to members.

Visit to Glyndwr Vineyard 21st July 2010.   The evening was most enjoyable, a tour of the vineyard, a 2 course supper and wine-tasting - hospitality second to none.  A fantastic way to end to President Pat’s tenure. 

20th July 2010 President Pat the Housing Prize (a cheque of £400) to the winner of the Cadwyn Housing Association.  The  award was set up following the handing over in the 1990s, of the club’s 3 houses.

Supper meeting – 23rd June 2010 with guest speaker ROSIE SWALE POPE MBE, author, adventurer, runner.  Rosie is pictured below with club President Pat.

19th June 2010

The First Wales South Regional Programme Action Award, won by the Club’s  Cape Verde Project was presented at the Regional AGM in Neath.  From a list of 20 other projects -and a shortlist of 4 – Soroptimist International Of Cardiff & District Education Trust gained the most points to meet the region’s Programme Action Award. 

Club President Pat receiving the award from Regional President Sue Thomas

Garden Party 12th June in aid of SI Cardiff & District Education Trust – The garden party and lunch at the Trust chairman’s Enid Child’s house raised over £1000.  It was a gloriously sunny day and the occasion was greatly enjoyed by the 60 guests.

Supper meeting 26th May 2010 with guest speaker Deborah Perkin, a BAFTA winning Producer/Director with BBC Wales.  Deborah entertained us with a lively account of her successful career in television, complete with clips of the many documentaries she has made.  “It’s All Glamour-One Woman’s Career in Television” proved to be just that, but with plenty of hard work too!  Prior to the supper, President Pat inducted new member the Venerable Peggy Jackson.  Peggy is Archdeacon of Llandaff and priest-in-charge of a number of parishes in the Vale of Glamorgan.  She is the most senior female cleric in the Anglican Church in Wales.

Fashion Show with drinks and nibbles on 20th May 2010 at and hosted by TM Lewin.  Joan Williams (left) and Giselle Davies ) right stood in for Noami Campbell and Kate Moss who were otherwise engaged.  £100 was raised for Licking Lassa Fever.

Beach Clean 15th May 2010 – On a cold, but sunny day 12 members of the club collected 46 Kgs of rubbish from Swanbridge beach.  After an hour of litter picking members adjourned to the Captains Wife for lunch, where we enjoyed good food and company.

Executive meeting 4th May 2010 minutes circulated to members.