Review of President’s year 2009 – 2010
Review of President’s Year 2009-10
The theme for my year was a wide ranging one: International Goodwill & Understanding and this was reflected in our guest speakers and in our fundraising activities.
The first speaker was our Federation President, Carwen Wynne Howells, who came to give us first hand information of the progress on the ground of the work being done in Sierra Leone pursuant to our Regional project, Licking Lassa Fever http://licking-lassa-fever.org.uk/and our Quadrennial project, Project Sierra. Later on in the year, there were speakers from both projects to keep us up to date on their progress and funding. We had a wonderful evening with members of the Welsh National Opera in the restaurant of the Wales Millennium Centre as our main fund raiser for Licking Lassa Fever and we also supported Project Sierra with the proceeds from our stall at the Roath Park fete.
Our main “hands on” charitable activity was the continuation of the support that we give to the secondary education of girls in the Cape Verde Islands through the charity formed by our club for this purpose, and a new venture, the Marakissa Garden Project in the Gambia. 
This is a women’s co-operative, supported by SI Banjul, through which the women of 16 villages run 3 market gardens; 20% of the produce helps to feed the villagers’ families and 80% is sold wholesale to provide an income for the villagers. We had raised funds through an evening at Bo Zan restaurant in Cardiff, through raffles and Smartie box collections and 5 of us then went out to the Gambia to see for ourselves the work the women are doing. We had a wonderful welcome from them and we joined them for a time (at the hottest part of the day!) in hoeing and drawing water from a very deep well. Our funds will help to provide fencing for the gardens to protect the crops from marauding animals.
Back home, we had speakers from the United Nations Association, from UNIFEM and from Amnesty International, 3 organisations to which we were subscribing.
Another objective for my year was to review the number of charities and other organisations we were supporting with a view to focussing our resources more effectively. Each club committee was given a number of organisations/activities to report on to the Executive Committee and recommendations were then made to the club. Inevitably, everyone had their favourites and we were only able to reduce the list by 4, but it was agreed that the process would continue with the introduction of a Development Plan for the club in 2011/12.
Another aim was to encourage our links with other local Soroptimist clubs, taking the view that our strength lies in our numbers and our geographical spread. We had 2 joint meetings with SI Bridgend – a visit to Atlantic College organised by us and a Friendship Supper arranged by them. We invited members of SI Pontypridd to our Bo Zan evening (see above) and attended one of their Speaker Meetings. A number of our members joined SI Barry for a terrific charity concert and buffet held by them in Duffryn Gardens and many of their members joined us for a Diamond Day Out at and around Llanwonno to raise funds for our 60th anniversary celebrations. We joined SI Brecon for a sponsored walk by the Brecon canal, raising funds for Licking Lassa Fever and Project Sierra and we raised our game for attendance at Regional meetings and events.
Other highlights of my year? So many, but two in particular stand out. The Christmas party – a nightmare to organise but it all came right on the night with a wonderful concert (in Welsh) from the children of Bro Taff Workshop. The other one was the meeting of the Executive Committee amidst the height of the snow and ice in January when most roads were undriveable and pavements unusable but everyone got there somehow.
Thank you all so much for your support.
My year will be followed by the 60th Anniversary year for the club and a new step for Cardiff – not just one President but three! My best wishes to them for what will be, I am sure, a tremendous year for our club
Cherry Wright