Our annual visit to stay at Number 63 Bayswater Road at our very own Soroptimist boutique hotel was attended by 10 Soroptimists and 3 Soroptimisters. Our first evening was a visit to the theatre to see “Company” which sadly ended after the first three quatres of an hour when the lead actress became unwell.  As she was the understudy (the main actress was already unwell) they had to cancel the show.  A huge disappointment. The second evening was spent in the usual Italian Restaurant that is very close to Number 63. The rest of the time we enjoyed the sights of London finding new events and fun places to visit.  Many thanks to Jeanette, Pauline and Ruth for making it happen.

From today (4th December) until Saturday 8th December, St Mary Redcliffe Church is hosting a Tree Fest. Denise, with a little help from her husband and Marion, decorated a tree on behalf of SI Bristol. There are over 70 trees on display that were made by local charities and organizations. The trees are available for viewing between 10:00am and 5:00pm. On Thursday, the Church will be open until 8:00pm and during the evening, drinks and food will be available for a small fee. For more information, enter into a search engine: St Mary Redcliffe TreeFest.  Come along and see what you think.

84th Federation Conference, Liverpool 25-27th October 2018. I attended this excellent Conference with members Helen Davies & Di Hill who, unlike me, were working extremely hard behind the scenes to make sure that everything ran efficiently and to time. The keynote speakers were: Emily Rose Yates, wheel chair bound, inspired us with her work to improve travel facilities for disabled persons, Terry Waite needs no introduction, talked of his kidnapping and how he survived mentally with the loneliness, Dr Annemarie Wilson, a psychologist working hard to persuade 28 countries in Africa to adopt anti FGM laws. Ellie Bird Lena-warungu retired from the Police Force to work in Africa advising on stopping sexual and gender based violence and empowering women and girls to make changes based on what they want for their families. Sally Kettle the first woman to row the Atlantic twice from East to

On 9th November, 2018, an annual Act of Remembrance service was arranged by All Saints Church, Clifton, led by its Vicar, Charles Sutton with support from ‘Churches Together in Clifton, Cotham and Redland’ at St John’s War Memorial on Whiteladies Road. It was attended by over 200 schoolchildren from local schools along with many adults.  Wreaths were laid by military representatives, the Royal British Legion, cadets, schools and local organisations, including SI Bristol.  Some lovely wreaths were handmade by participating children.

This is Daphne Dowsing’s second year as Regional President and the Regional AGM, Conference and friendship weekend was again held in Tiverton. Five of us attended the day and David S joined us in the evening. The first part of the morning was the AGM including reports, election and announcement of Regional Officers. Again there were inspiring and impressive speakers including Vanessa Glover: Ambassador for the RNLI, who told us of her amazing rescue, Ken Atherton: “Has anyone seen my rubber ducky”, Kay Richmond: Chair of Soroptimist International, and Anita Corbin: Author and Photographer First Women 2018, who spoke at the Regional AGM in Bristol some years ago and updated us on her completed book. More information on the talks can be found on the Regional Website. We took a display of our Programme Action (PA) activities highlighting not only the work for our Club

  Congratulations go to Anne, Margaret S, Hilary M, Liz N and Pat I. They received their Long Service awards at our AGM: Anne has been a Soroptimist for 50 years, Hilary and Pat 45 years and Liz N 35 years. However a  special celebration for Margaret who has been a Soroptimist for 60 years. Between them they have 235 years service!

Chosen from hundreds of nominations for local heroes to become Great Westerners, Bristol Soroptimist, Miss Elizabeth Ralph, was a “first” to have a new GWR train named after her!  The criteria for nominations were those who, past or present, deserved to be remembered as all-time great and had, in their lifetime, made the greatest contribution to Bristol. 50 new GWR trains were to be named after the successful  nominees considered as Bristol’s most inspiring Westerners. Known as an exacting and precise lady, she would have approved of the detail paid to ensuring her name sat in just the right place and at just the right angle on the new GWR gleaming engine! She was nominated by Bristol Soroptimists as well as members of the Bristol Archive Office and other related bodies who have benefited from her work. The reasons given for her nomination by Soroptimist

Andrea joined SI Bristol in 1981 and was a keen Soroptimist being President 1987/88 and serving as a very conscientious and efficient Treasurer for a number of years.  In 2016 she received her 35 year certificate at one of our regular luncheons.  She kept up with all our events and had hoped to join us for Annual lunch this year, which was cancelled owing to the snow.  Sadly Andrea died on 13th March Southmead Hospital. Andrea was born in Devonport and later moved to Kingsteignton she was always very proud of her Devonshire roots. After school she went to College in Leicester studying youth work, moving, with a lifelong friend Monica, to Norfolk. She then moved West to work at Withywood youth centre as assistant leader, before a short spell at Bristol Polytechnic. Her final job was Accommodation and welfare officer at Bristol University. This

Membership Month of May Being a younger member as I am regularly referred, I am often asked “Why are you a Soroptimist?”. It seemed fitting to answer this question as part of SIGBI’s membership month of May. The truth is, there isn’t one simple answer. It was a gradual affair, peaked through my own interest on meeting such an incredible group of women. It started when SI Bristol invited my place of work, a female only offenders day service to a conference on Reducing Women’s Imprisonment. I expected to turn up with a stand, hand out some leaflets and be on my merry way. I found I was inspired by these women, putting themselves forward to make the voices of female offenders heard. They were all so organised and passionate about their cause I found myself surprised that I had never heard of them and my