Back in 1928 one of the very first Soroptimist International clubs in Yorkshire was formed here in Bradford and, eighty years on, it is still going strong under the current President, Canon Nora Whitham MBE. A special 80th birthday dinner was attended by over a hundred guests, including the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, SI Federation President Carwen Wynne-Howells, SI Yorkshire President Pat Drake, and keynote speaker Canon Diana Chambers, Pro Chancellor of the University of Bradford and herself an ex President of SI Skipton. SI Bradford was instrumental, under the Presidency of Marion Le Pla, in starting the Bradford Schools Drugs Prevention Initiative, working with Rotary International, the Police and Education, and the present Chairman of the BSDPI, Robert Morpet gave a moving toast to the work of the Soroptimists – even writing to the Minister for Women, Harriet Harman, asking that she acknowledge this work; a gesture very much appreciated by the Soroptimists present who had travelled from clubs as far away as Selby, York and Hull.