Message from President Sue April 2011

A couple of years ago Julie told me to remember to say ‘no’ unfortunately this warning came too late and my life as an officer began at the same time as I became Vice President. (I also did not intend to change jobs three weeks before becoming President!)

 Both President Sue and President Cath have been fabulous to work with and have helped to show me the Presidential ropes so hopefully I won’t make too many faux pas’. When I was putting my programme together I tried to ensure that the speakers fitted in with the overall objectives of Soroptimism. Across the year I have planned speakers who will share with us their interests and expertise in a wide range of fields such as Vision overseas; working with disaffected adults and developing young children’s awareness of sustainability. In June we have Platform 51 coming to speak to us and hopefully some members from local clubs will be able to join us as we start to consider the Regional Project for the next two years. My inaugural event in conjunction with NPTCBC starts what I hope will be a successful two-year project with Dewis – the new international project is looking to develop leadership skills and education of girls and I hope through this project we will be able to support young girls in our local community to develop in these areas. Other events I have planned are a quiz evening ; an evening where we all have the opportunity to buy those essential gifts for Christmas, a concert in conjunction with the Cymric in which the proceeds with be shared between us and Diabetes UK Cymru a charity which as many of you know is close to my heart and a coffee morning.

I hope that along the way we can ensure there is lots of fun and laughter – whilst the business side of Soroptimism remains to be done – we are all giving of our time freely and what I want more than anything is that the time we give is filled with friendship and we support each other and the community both locally and internationally through companionship and support for one and other.

Thank you ladies for your support and here’s to an enjoyable year.