At the end of March, six members of SI Beverley & District met with nine Dutch Soroptimists from their link club: SI Hoeksche Waard/ Ijsselmonde at the hotel called Number ‘63’ to spend a few days exploring London.  After a welcome reception, the group enjoyed the evening performance of The Jersey Boys at the Piccadilly theatre and enthusiastically joined in with the familiar songs popularised by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons.  Events on Saturday included a comprehensive sight seeing tour round London on an open top bus and a cruise along the River Thames. In the evening we dined at the Taormina, a restaurant well known to Soroptimists staying at Number ‘63’.  The weekend sped past far too quickly but there was still time to hear about the Dutch project with Syrian refugee children and go on to explore Kensington Gardens in the rain.

On behalf of Club members, Ann Lane presented outgoing President Andrea with her Past President badge and flowers to show our thanks for her work over the last year. SI Beverley and District will be managed by the Executive Committee for the year 2015-2016. The Executive Committee is as follows; Anne Lane;  Barbara Evamy; Chris Davidson;  Liz Hallett; Jenny Heppenstall;  Margaret Jenkins; Andrea Hunt; Sue Bates; Dorothy Fagge. The Executive Committee will organise a rota of members to act as chair at Club meetings. Anne Lane has agreed to remain Secretary of the Club for this next year. Barbara Evamy will remain Treasurer. Margaret Jenkins will continue as Minute Secretary. Chris Davidson will manage Programme Action.  

Members of SI Beverley & District have been busy knitting hats for the Sailors’ Society Woolly Hat Appeal to be distributed to serving merchant seamen. Here is a photo of some of their efforts. As a result of fund raising this year we have given a donation of £800 to the local branch of Marie Curie Cancer Care to help with their work & also had a speaker on Fair Trade to raise awareness of this subject. We are collecting used bras to be used by the East Riding Breast Cancer care group who plan to dye them pink & use them to decorate Skidby Mill next month.

Members visited the Stained Class Centre at Cayton for their summer outing this month. They were shown around by Valerie Green, who is the fourth generation of skilled artists working in this family business. Val’s Great Grandfather started the Bradford Stained Glass Works in 1884 and his son developed the business at the coast. After a brief history, there was a demonstration of how a stained glass window is created from the initial design through to completion. The process is the same as it has been for the last 1,000 years and involves detailed and highly skilled work. Members then had the opportunity to browse in the showroom full of stained glass panels, mirrors, lampshades and other gift items before taking advantage of the recently furbished tearoom. President Andrea Hunt gave an appreciative vote of thanks to Val whose love of stained glass and enthusiasm

A Bridge day has been held at Tickton Grange Hotel. The event was arranged by club member Barbara Brumfield and was organised and run by Helen Barr who works tirelessly for charity in the local area. The event raised £550-00 which was presented to Helen Kirkbeck by Club president Andrea Hunt. Helen is the manager of Alderson House Bridlington which is a Royal British Legion home which gives short breaks and holidays to former service men and women and their families. There are only four British legion homes in the UK offering this service. Three are in England and one in Ireland. Members of Soroptimist International have also been on a tour of York Minster. This was enjoyed by all who attended. Our next meeting is in September when local historian Berna Moody will give a talk on World war memorials. If you would like to join us

Members of Soroptimist International of Beverley and district held an Interclub and friendship evening at St Mary’s Parish Hall, Beverley. They were pleased to welcome the Yorkshire President, Margaret Cook and also members from clubs throughout Yorkshire, including Hull, Malton and Selby. They were also joined on the evening by friends from Beverley Ladies Lions, The Marie Curie Committee, Beverley Soriarty and Beverley Tangent. The speaker for the evening was Mrs  Olivia Cunliffe- Lister who gave a most interesting talk about life at Burton Agnes Hall. The President Andrea Hunt presented her with a cheque for the Burton Agnes Preservation Fund. The talk was followed by a delicious supper. Soroptimist International of Beverley is always keen to welcome new members. We have two outings planned for the summer, to York Minster and Killerby Glass at Cayton. Future meetings include a talk on World war Memorials and

Members of Soroptimist International of Beverley and district were pleased to invite Lee Karen Stow to their meeting which was held at The Beverley Arms Hotel. Lee is a photographic journalist and her illustrated talk highlighted the plight of women living in Sierra Leone, where the female life expectancy is only 42 years. Many women die in child birth of infection and bleeding as female genital mutilation is common. Malaria is also prevalent Lee became involved in a photographic project where women in Hull which is twinned with Freetown took pictures of their every day lives. A small group of women in Sierra Leone were given digital cameras and training so that they too could record their daily lives. The project named ’42’ has now been active for a number of years and some of the women have been able to take photographic jobs. Lee has also

Incoming President Andrea thanked Past President Sue for her work over the last year.