President’s Message – 2010/11

President Kay’s Message 2010/2011:

President Kay with the ‘Chain Gang’ at SI Plymouth Diner at the end of February 2011

President Kay at the St Austell Town Torchlight Parade on Saturday 20th November, proudly wearing her ‘I love being a Sooptimist Badge’.

April 2010

I am very proud and immensely privileged to be President and I thank you all for your words of support and kindness.  It is indeed an exciting time of year for us all.  With flowers and trees bursting into life at the first sign of Spring, it feels appropriate that our Club is launching into a brand new year with new hopes and aspirations for the future. With our newly elected officers, our committees having been ‘spring cleaned,’ and with a brand new Public Relations Committee, we are fit to burst!  This new committee will be great for the Club, getting our name out there in front of people – telling everyone who we are and what we do!

I would like to thank Immediate Past President Barbara for her sterling work over the past year.  She is a very cool and measured lady to follow.  We have shared some memorable moments over the past few months and I know that Barbara will now enjoy her role as IPP.

We have a wonderful Club. The Club is what it is because of its members and the incredible work that has been done over the years.  32 years in fact after its Charter and we are still growing, planning and going forward.  We even have our very own Regional President.  If that doesn’t put us on the map, I don’t know what will!

As most of you know, my chosen charity is ‘The Mermaid Centre Trust Charity’based at RCH Treliske.  There is so much work being done there at the moment, and I hope that as a result of our fund raising activities, we too can make a significant difference to a place already being recognized as providing the best breast screening service in the UK.  As a county we are indeed very lucky to have this facility, with further building work underway and more installations of technical and digital equipment.

August 2010

It seems incredible that I am a quarter way through my year already – and what a busy 3 months it has been!  From the very beginning at the New President’s Evening to the latest event in the diary, a lovely  Cream Tea at Barbara Collins home, (where we also combined  ‘Beating the Drum’ to recognize the success of the Cluster Munitions Coalition), I am having an absolute ball!!  To have the opportunity to be more involved with our committees, and to represent SI St. Austell at a whole host of summer functions is very exciting and rewarding. (I even recently chatted about Soroptimism to our new Mayor, Jill Trewhella, at the Gurkha Restaurant!)

One of the most memorable events for me so far, (not forgetting a beautiful trip to Jersey in early June), was the Regional Conference and Annual Dinner.  What a fantastic day!  It all ran so very well – everything was organized to the ‘dot’ and then as if that wasn’t enough, we hosted our Charter Dinner and Dance in the evening.  It was such a special occasion for me and one I was so proud to be part of and will remember always.  Incidentally, I must congratulate our brand new PR committee who has certainly got into ‘top gear’ – with regular press releases and photographs of all our special events being promptly updated on our website.

As the summer rolls on, we look forward to a new season. September brings Regional President Wendy’s final Regional Meeting at Taunton with guest speaker Sally Biggs, (Chairman of the UK PAC). I am sure like all of Wendy’s meetings, it will be ‘jam packed’ with reports and interesting topics, and if it runs like the previous meetings, we will be heading home in record time.  Well done to Wendy!  October brings us the Conference which this year is in Manchester!  This will be my second conference and I am very much looking forward to it.  It will be a stimulating few days for one and all – particularly when meeting up with friends from far and wide, and perhaps making new acquaintances and sharing with them our hopes and experiences.

SI St. Austell has a lot to look forward to over the coming months and we certainly have enough projects to keep us busy and (hopefully) in the news.  Topics as far ranging as sending goody packs off to our brave female troops in Afghanistan, to launching our ‘Collecting Bras’ campaign.  With everyone working so hard, sometime in the not too distant future, let’s hope the phrase ‘what’s a soroptimist?’  will be a thing of the past!

President Kay.