On 20th April 2023, members from SI Bristol joined members from SI Weston-super-Mare on a visit to the Weston -super-Mare Museum.   Displays revealed the interesting history of Weston and the age of some of the artifacts (centuries BC) surprised us. West Tun was Anglo Saxon for a settlement in the west. To distinguish it from other settlements, super-Mare was added to ‘Weston’.

What an interesting tour we had once again at Arno’s Vale cemetery! We discovered the stories, lives, jobs, and place of rest of wonderful women. Mazzarina Emily Chute (1825-1878), theatre manager and actress; Ellen Jefferies née Sainsbury’s (1837-1917), the self made woman, catering entrepreneur and land owner; Joan Tuckett (1895-1957), early female solicitor, women’s rights activist and aviator; and some more of the wonderful women who contributed each in their own way to the history of Bristol, and now rest in this mesmerizing location. Thank you to our guide and sunny weather was definitely a bonus. Thank you again to those who organised the interesting tour.

Remembering Vyv Joy 1942-2023 Doctor Vyvyan Joy was born in Plymouth in 1942, living in Naval Quarters, as her father was the First Officer on HMS Edinburgh. The ship escorted merchant ships to Murmansk on Arctic Convoys. The ship was torpedoed, so Vyv never knew her father, which was always a great sadness for her. Her mother brought her up, but later married a man who Vyv said was the image of Captain Birdseye! Vyv attended a convent boarding school in Bideford and as she was highly motivated and good at science went on to read Medicine at Bristol University. Vyv worked at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Bristol Maternity Hospital.  She married a fellow medical student and they had four children. Vyv was a skilled cook and in later life still very much the matriarch of the family, she also adored her Labrador dogs. Vyv was

  President Helen, Lizzie, Liz, Lucy, Marion and Sue P were privileged to be able to enjoy an amazing afternoon celebrating lovely (as she has become to be known) Lynn’s life.  Yuko our friendship link from Japan was in our minds too. I am sure Lynn will be looking down on us and smiling and we expect she had a bite of the cream tea too.  What lovely memories and the theme running though all our memories was love and generosity.  Lynn died on 31st March 2020 during Covid three years ago and we were unable to celebrate then due to Covid restrictions.  There were lots of memories of Lynn and we shared some memories too. Helen started by sharing some personal memories and then said on behalf of the club: ‘I am, I can, I ought, I will’ Lynn joined SI Bristol on the 2nd

  This year 17 of us including Soroptimisters came to our annual to visit London and stayed at our very own Soroptimist boutique hotel.    On the first night we all gathered at our usual lovely Italian restaurant Taormina near the hotel and on the Friday night we all went to the Phoenix Theatre and enjoyed the hilarious comedy “Noises Off”.  During the day we made our own arrangements and as usual visited museums, art galleries, many other historic places and organised London walks.  Hyde Park is just a step away and we took advantage of the lovely weather and walked in the park too Many  thanks to Ruth and Pauline for making it happen.