Members of SI Aberdeen enjoying the sun at the Federation conference in Malta.

Members of SI Aberdeen enjoyed an afternoon at the Town House Aberdeen where they were presented with individual gold awards for volunteering within the Aberdeen area. A delicious afternoon tea was also provided by Aberdeen City Council.

At the recent meeting of Aberdeen Soroptimists, the speaker was Isobel Smyth OBE from Interfaith Scotland. The diversity of faiths in Scotland has increased overall and we now have a great mosaic of faiths. It is said that racial prejudice increases with age but education makes a difference. There are three ways of looking at this multicultural society – as a country house with hosts and guests, i.e. them and us. as a hotel with people living in their rooms and going back to their rooms or building a home together. Dialogue is required with friendship and understanding on all sides. We share a common humanity but beliefs are important. People of all faiths are looking for equality, a word which resonates with the world of Soroptimism. Below Isobel with President Pat Stewart

Our Program Action Officer Anne McAlister was at the Fair trade event on the Northlink Ferry during Fair Trade fortnight 2016 with our pledge certificate to commit to using fair trade products; supplying our Fair trade hamper and lobbying the council for a new permanent shop. The knitted banana is the Aberdeen Fairtrade Mascot ‘FT’.

Last Saturday and Sunday a group of Aberdeen Soroptimists manned a stall in aid of The National Trust for Scotland which also publicised our work. Under the direction of Alison, one of our members, we sold gardening books and gave away Soroptimist book marks. The weather was wonderful and we all enjoyed the weekend.

The new Robertson Family Roof Garden at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is now open and a few of our members enjoyed a visit earlier today. This “pioneering” £600,000 green space for patients of the north-east’s flagship hospital was opened just a few weeks ago and access is through the doors located above the accident and emergency department. Already the green space – which was designed by award-winning gardener Professor Nigel Dunnett and funded by donations – is impressing patients, and has had a great response from families and staff alike. The garden is lined by wooden seating and features Chinese Dogwood trees, a water feature, plants, bushes, shelter and a living wall. .

At our May meal meeting last week we enjoyed a captivating talk from Audrey Harvey a long standing member of our club, who gave a graphic and entertaining insight into her pre 2nd world war up bringing in Aberdeen and her time working for ITV. She also took us through her various work roles with The Alcohol & Advisory Counselling Service in the North East, along with her work for the Children’s Panel and FMG. We were also delighted to welcome as a guest to SI Aberdeen, Susan-Leigh Christopher from S I Trinidad & Tobago. Susan is in Aberdeen studying for a few months. Audrey & Susan are pictured with our President Pat Stewart.

We have enjoyed a wide variety of talks over the past few months. We kicked off with talks from Katie Donald, Amber Johnston and Elizabeth Stanyer recipients of The Gay Hawskworth Legacy. These three young ladies talked with passion about the various projects they took part in. We were fascinated and shocked at times about the situations they encountered. Mark Morgan from Stella’s Voice gave us a very detailed explanation how this project came about and how it has mushroomed over the years. We were delighted to welcome Dame Anne Begg to our latest meal meeting who talked about life as an MP. Dame Anne has been a great supporter of the work of SI Aberdeen.

At our recent meal meeting we had a very interesting talk from immediate past president Hilda about the deaf school at Kaduna in Nigeria. During Hilda’s year as president we raised over £400 to support this wonderful venture.

SI Aberdeen members were thrilled hear that club member Kay Gibb had won the Scottish Senior Ladies Curling Championships and would be heading to Sochi Russia the home of the 2014 Winter Olympics to represent Scotland at the World Senior Championships. Kay plans to give a short talk later in the year to the club as part of the club’s new initiative where members will talk about either their jobs or life experiences.