Bristol Soroptimists celebrated its 96th charter (10th May) last evening by welcoming its youngest member to the club. Megan Grace with her mother Laura and husband Rowan attended her first meeting and enjoyed all the attention she received. President Pauline said she was delighted to welcome such a young member to the club especially on this occasion when it was celebrating its 96th year.  

On the afternoon of December 8th Gish Hobbs and Denise Matthews visited Eden House to oversee a Christmas themed craft session. We had prepared a variety of activities including card making, a table decoration using fresh foliage, and a handmade tree decoration which involved a lot of glueing. We provided all the necessary materials and some simple advice on methods. Eight ladies attended ( as well as a member of Eden House staff) and all showed enthusiasm and interest in the ideas we presented.Most of the ladies completed two activities, seemed pleased with their efforts and in some cases showed remarkable ingenuity in problem solving ways of making the tree decorations stick together! There was constant conversation amongst everyone during the couple of hours we were there and it was generally an enjoyable afternoon.

July saw the return of Sylva Von Bomsdorff for a short holiday from her home in Peru and we were delighted to hear news of the latest happenings at her small School in Lima. Due to the fact that Lima has been experiencing an unusual level of heavy, fine rain which the original flat roof was not designed to manage, it has been necessary to improve the slope and drainage for the roof, something outside their planned budget. However, a small increase to the salary has enabled the School to continue to employ the dedicated teaching team and pupil levels are almost at the maximum for the classrooms available, although only around 30% are able to pay their full fees. Income continues to be juggled by Sylva and her team to ensure education is available wherever possible for those with little income. An additional expense

Sky Ride Bristol … Members of SI Bristol joined Bristol Rotary Club to help marshal Sky Ride Bristol on Sunday 21 June. Cycling fever hit Bristol as all types of riders and abilities rode through traffic-free city centre streets to raise funds for their favourite charities. A formidable pair of Soroptimists made sure that the route they were responsible for was kept clear for the cyclists! Induction of new Rotary President … The annual changeover of Presidents for Bristol Rotary took place on Monday 29 June. SI Bristol, who have a special relationship with Rotary, were represented at this annual event which began with a short church service in The Lord Mayor’s Chapel opposite College Green – a beautiful setting and building. The Revd Harold Clarke who conducted the service had been a Bristol Rotarian. He spoke of his recent trip to Sri Lanka where

Members of SI Bristol at the Regional AGM held in St Austell on Saturday 20th June.  We were invited to display our Programme Action activities.   One of Bristol club’s members volunteered to take part in a Self Defence Demonstration, by James Turner, Regional Kick Boxing Champion   Afternoon Tea SI Bristol celebrated our 95th anniversary at the Marriott Royal Hotel with a sumptuous afternoon tea. We were delighted to host visiting dignitaries and members from across the region as well as members’ friends and relatives. The first meeting in 1920 was hosted in the same hotel.  It was then known as the Royal Hotel.                       SI Bristol have been working on a garden project with Eden House see Programme Action page for more information Soroptimists and Rotarians joined forces to marshal Sky Ride Bristol