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Conference 2018, Liverpool and Meeting up with our Friendship Links

Conference 2018, Liverpool and Meeting up with our Friendship Links

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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

Open Evening October 22nd 2018

Open Evening October 22nd 2018

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How many times have we heard, that no one has heard of Soroptimists? With this in mind, we decided to advertise an ‘Open Evening’ in local, monthly free magazines. Through this medium five people contacted us, which together with other interested women meant 10 ‘new’ people attended. We wanted presentations to be short and interesting and Programme Action focused. After some refreshments and introductions, one of our members explained why she is a Soroptimist followed by several examples of the projects, that SI Bristol is engaged in supporting. Feedback has been very positive; the friendly and welcoming ambiance and our obvious commitment to projects that will change the lives of women and children.

Soroptimist Wreath at Act of Remembrance

Soroptimist Wreath at Act of Remembrance

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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.

Tour of Clifton Suspension Bridge and Vaults

Tour of Clifton Suspension Bridge and Vaults

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Following our Speaker Meeting on Monday’ on Thursday 11th October, 7 members of SI Bristol, one Soroptimister and a guest enjoyed a 2-hour tour of the spectacular grade one listed Clifton Suspension Bridge. Gordon Young, our tour guide, was entertaining and informative; he illustrated many points with visuals from his satchel. We learnt the story of the bridge: about the competition to design the bridge and how the end result differed from the original design. Hardhats and hi-vis vests were donned before we climbed down a ladder to visit two of the twelve chambers inside the red sandstone abutment on the Leigh Woods side of the bridge. The world famous bridge was initially designed by the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although he did not live to see his creation, which was finished in 1864. Work began in 1831, but the project was dogged with

Reducing the Use of Plastics (updated 8 November 2018)

Reducing the Use of Plastics (updated 8 November 2018)

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SI Bristol is concerned about the amount of single-use plastics and disposal of goods containing plastic have on the environment – air, land, rivers, seas and oceans. In order to learn more about what happens in our area, various institutions and companies were asked how they were dealing with this issue. Articles from the press, magazines and social media were collected to give members a sound understanding of the dangers of plastic waste and how it can be reduced and cleared from the environment. The responses received were mainly encouraging but often slow to make an immediate impact. Some companies were making positive changes, e.g., Only using non-disposable plastic cups, using non-plastic cups, and encouraging customers to bring their own cups, containers or bags. Taking plastic out of tea bags Reducing packaging Using non-plastic, vegetable-based  compostable envelopes for mass mailings. Junior and senior schools were

8th October 2018: Bristol Spension Bridge – Bob Brewton, Supervisor and Tour Guide for the Bridge.

8th October 2018: Bristol Spension Bridge – Bob Brewton, Supervisor and Tour Guide for the Bridge.

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Mr Brewton quickly explained that although Brunel had submitted several designs for the bridge and his final design in 1831 was accepted, the Bristol Riots in that year meant that building never really got started. It was not until after Brunel’s death in 1859 that two engineers John Hawkshaw and William Henry Barlow came along with extra knowledge and know how. They took over Brunel’s earlier designs and completed the building of the bridge in 1864. Although they changed the design they retained the two towers originally built by Brunel and 2 of the 3 sets of the original chains. The bridge is now owned by a charity and fees for crossing the bridge go towards maintenance. The vaults below consist of 12 caves.  For those visiting the caves you will see two of them and emphasis was placed on wearing warm clothes and stout

Friendship Links

Friendship Links

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Meeting up with our Friendship links is a pleasure and we try and do this at least once a year.  We are delighted that Lynn was able to catch up with Yuko Tsuji from SI Aquamarine Kure, Japan when she last visited the West Country. Lynn has close links with Yuko and long may it continue. As usual SI Bristol Soroptimists who attend the conference in Liverpool at the end of October hope to meet up with friends from our UK Friendship Link Clubs. Liz N is trying to make contact with SI Bootle, SI Halifax and SI Chester to arrange this. Watch this space. Photo to follow

10th September 2018 – Brigadier Bruce Jackman from the The Gurha Welfare Trust

10th September 2018 – Brigadier Bruce Jackman from the The Gurha Welfare Trust

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Brigadier Bruce Jackman, Chair of the Western branch of the Gurkha Welfare Trust, gave a very lively talk at our supper meeting on 10 September. He started with a brief history of the Gurkha involvement in the British Army with examples of some of the extreme bravery for which the Gurkhas are rightly renowned. The Gurkha Welfare Trust shortly celebrates its 50th anniversary and was set up because, in order to ensure parity with members of the British army, Gurkhas were paid comparable rates with the requirement to serve 15 years before being entitled to an army pension. Unlike their British army counterparts, however, there was no old age pension for them on their return to Nepal leaving many of them virtually destitute with little opportunities for suitable work. The Gurkha Welfare Fund now provides financial aid (including pensions), medical aid via welfare centres, community

Garden Party to Raise Money for Unseen

Garden Party to Raise Money for Unseen

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On Saturday 23nd June we were once again treated to a most enjoyable afternoon at Vyv’s lovely home and garden. We raised over £300 for our Club Charity of the year:  Unseen. As always it was a very happy gathering of members, husbands, partners and friends and family and an opportunity to enjoy a summer Garden Party whilst raising funds for this year’s Club Charity.

78th Regional AGM and Conference June 16th/17th 2018

78th Regional AGM and Conference June 16th/17th 2018

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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