Wed 4th April saw well over half our members gather at our regular haunt The Atholl Hotel for a very full and interesting meeting, with Sue Kinsey chairing her last meeting before handing over the reins to Hilda Smith at our forthcoming AGM. We were delighted to induct new member Louise McIntosh a retired teacher into our fold. As always when a new member is welcomed we each introduced ourselves, giving Louise a short insight into any specific role we have within the club. Our Program convenor Marjory Smart introduced our speaker for the evening Susan Hogg a member of the Trefoil Guild who gave us a fascinating presentation on her trip to Russia as part of TOPAZ (Trefoil Overseas Participation Adventure with Zest). Susan had been selected along with seven other adult Trefoil Guides from the UK to spend a week with their Russian

S I Aberdeen member are certainly hoping so. This spell of miserable snowy weather along with a number of our members suffering from colds, flu, and other ailments has meant that our attendances at club & meal meetings has been quite low. So come on Spring, daffodils and sunshine where are you? Wishing all our “under the weather” members a speedy recovery and looking forward to meeting up with you all soon.

Marjory Smart and Janice Rees are getting very excited about their visit to Kenya and Meru. They leave on Saturday 7th April and return home on Sunday 15th April. Janice says ” we will bring photographs back and are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you.” We are also grateful to CIFORD (Community Initiative for Rural Development) who delivers our project to the women and girls of Meru. Over the winter we have continued to raise funds for the project with a successful coffee morning in early March. Well done to all who battled “the beast from the East” to raise raised over £220. A sale of unwanted Christmas goods at our February meeting raised £65. Some of the beautiful knitted goods which were sold at our coffee morning.

We were delighted to be able to pass on our Sainsbury’s vouchers to Carronhill School in Stonehaven. As you can see Alani Manson is busy baking with some of the utensils the school acquired.

Meru Women’s Garden Project 2016-2019 – report from Janice Rees Aberdeen Soroptomists got off to a good start fundraising for this worthwhile Federation project. This is a three year project in partnership with child.org to educate, empower and enable women in Meru to become self-sufficient. We will support some of the poorest women-led households in Kenya. The focus will be to provide opportunities for women and girls to feed their families, earn an income and give them status within their community. Our first year has seen us raise a grand total of £1,651. We kicked off our first event by celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday. Other events have been well supported and included a buffet evening, curry night, sale of unwanted Christmas presents and a sale of recipe cards and books. This next year we are planning more fund raising events and plan to have

At last week’s AGM Pat Stewart chaired her final meeting with her usual cheery smile and gave an excellent resume of the years’ activities. Pat then passed on the chain of office to our new President Sue Kinsey who presented Pat with flowers and also thanked Pat for being the first member to carry out a two year stint at the helm.

Every year we take part in the annual Daffodil collection for Marie Curie. The photograph was taken at our stand in the Bon-Accord Centre on Friday 24th March Margaret Smith and Marjory Smart looking the part.

A Group of SI Aberdeen members and friends enjoyed a great curry supper at the home of member Janice Rees

Four members of SI Aberdeen Pat Moir, Audrey, Marjory and Janice, organised and prepared a delicious supper at Cults Bowling Club in aid of the Meru Garden Project. Members enjoyed a buffet meal, raffle and a chance to buy various exotically flavoured jams. The evening raised £1200.00.