The recent Global Summit to end Sexual Violence against Women was attended by some very well known names from both the political  and show business worlds. SIGBI had a stall there which attracted much interest about our work and Clubs. Staffing the stall was tiring but rewarding as there were live feeds from the conference  to see , workshops, other stalls to visit and contacts to make. The happy group below from our Club clearly had a wonderful day and managed a little celeb watching for some light relief!

The Guide Commissioner for Dorset Catherine Welch, was the speaker at our June meeting. She was aided by Brownie Pack leaders and we were delighted to learn about the fun that local girls had with the Bee Project. Our pack had been adapted and used as a source of inspiration to learn about the role of bees in the environment and their importance to all our lives. Bees became the inspiration for craft work, art, and honey flavoured cakes. A local bee keeper gave a talk and demonstrated the use of a smoker tool. Favourite bee flowers were planted, a bee drive invented -like the more traditional beetle drive- and best of all a “Waggle Dance” devised to imitate the flight of these insects. Our Environment Group who provided the Project Pack, were very pleased that the project had such a positive response from the

Jackie Paling, Assistant Programme Director for Violence and Conflict Resolution gave a talk at Regional Council on 14th June about Afghan Women.The lives of women in Afghanistan were very different from ours in the UK with problems arising from forcible resettlements in the past, the presence of landmines and cultural attitudes which left women’s lives  controlled by men. Jackie had been to Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and related how she had been able to encourage women to extend their craft skills, produce honey, buy fruit trees and farm stock. Violence against women is a crime there but the law is not enforced. The view of the world from behind a bhurka was shared briefly by those who tried some on as shown in this photo.

Jasvinder Sanghera speaks at the Karma Nirvana Conference which was held locally recently. One of our members attended this informative event and has provided us with a precis of Karma’s address. This was a useful update on the circumstances leading to the Karma Nirvana charity being established. Its aims are-  to increase reporting of forced marriage and honour based violence, reduce the isolation of victims and save their lives. Jasvinder has spent 20 years working in this area, using her personal experience to assist others. Legislation is about to be introduced to make forced marriage and honour based violence an offence, and we will keep a watching brief on the impact of this new law.

On 16th May some of our avid readers met for one of our occasional “Book Club ” events. Kirsteen, our President was the host who dazzled us with her delicious cooking. The book under discussion was Me Before You- a novel by Jo Jo Moyes which has a serious theme. The content gave us a lot to talk about.This evening was in aid of our STEM Project. (See elsewhere for further infomation.) £160 was raised at this very enjoyable evening. Thank you Kirsteen for all you did.

A Fun Quiz attracted the “Brains of Bournemouth” and many other teams last month. Held at the University Campus, we were pleased to get our fish and chip supper served before we had to deal with the questions. This event was to raise funds for two of our charities- The Stem Challenge ( encouraging girls to consider science and technology careers) and the Friends of Bournemouth Women’s Refuge. A total of £867 was raised and a lot of fun had during the evening.

  This is one of the delicious puddings we sampled at our “Pudding Club” event. Hosted by Julia,who kindly provided a main course, we then sampled five different puddings -mini portions of course, and enjoyed a party to raise funds for the Cementing Futures Educational  Charity. In between the courses we had some quizzes, and that rare genre- pudding poems and much laughter. Thank you all who put sensible eating on hold for an evening. £410 was raised which will educate many children in Dhaka, Bangladesh in the coming year.

After the success of 2013, we repeated our Celebrating Science challenge, to encourage girls to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.13 teams from 7 different schools took part in our competition, coming up with ideas to help the poorest people in the world. Each team had to design, build and cost a product which would do this. It had to be sustainable, fit for purpose as well as cost effective. The winners for 2014 are-   Avonbourne School Team for their exciting ergonomic all terrain water carrier. This aims to help women and children who have to fetch and carry water for long distances in many developing countries. Highcliffe School Team, Christchurch – for their “SOLAHEDRON“ promoting a portable, collapsible solar cooker to enable the heating of foodstuffs and water to be done anywhere.  Teams from Arnewood Academy, New Milton, with their project “RIVER SPLITTING”

Borrowing a “Santa Express Road Train”  plus  driver and high vis tabards  from the Poole Bay Rotary we  raised £250- 61p for our Cementing Futures Charity one damp evening in December. The road train was expertly backed and turned in cul de sacs round a local estate playing an entertaining mixture of carols and other seasonal music. Children and senior citizens responded to the unexpected blast of Christmas Music with generous donations. One member with a pedometer revealed we had walked 4.8 miles along the streets and up and down peoples drives. The photos were taken at the end of the evening and as you can see we were still smiling! Thanks to Geoff for playing Santa and to Pete for the expert driving.

Part of a Club Newsletter was recently found by a Club Member who was having a clear out. Interesting to read about past projects and see how similar they were to the ones we have now. Sadly some of the people mentioned are no longer with us, but Pam Smith whose marriage is referred to in the last couple of lines is still attending meetings.   .