Hilda shared some of the highlights of her rich and fulfilling life at our meeting in November. She started on a farm in the north of England where her grandfather bred shire horses. After marrying and having three children, she and her husband moved to Bournemouth and ran a highly successful guest house (eventually) and, once the children were older, Hilda turned her hand to a life helping the community in many ways. She was a magistrate for 29 years, set up a youth centre to help reduce crime in a needy area (reducing crime by 29% in the first year), was invited to number 10 Downing Street by Tony Blair to talk about the bail service she established to prevent offending while youths were on bail, and received an MBE for service to young people and reducing re-offending. She has been a Soroptimist for 32 years and we were all very impressed to know more about her background and are very proud she is one of us.
If you are interested in this and would like to come along to a Soroptimist International Bournemouth meeting to find out more, please email us at sigbibournemouth@hotmail.co.uk.