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Speaker Meeting 7th February 2022: Valentine’s Day and Other Spring Festivals – Professor Ronald Hutton

Speaker Meeting 7th February 2022: Valentine’s Day and Other Spring Festivals – Professor Ronald Hutton

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  The talk reviewed a number of festivals, revealing that prehistorically they were based on survival, farming and nature. Later they were based on religion and Christianity and more recently focused on community, human life and family, of which Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day were given as examples.     While the origin of ‘Valentine’ is not known, Chaucer recorded that 14th February was the day birds chose their mate. Initially, recipients were loved ones but also could be by pulling a name or even the first person they met on that morning! By the 18th century the favoured token was a letter or card.  In the 1840s, commercial cards became available. By 1914, after cards had become increasingly rude, the practice nearly faded out. In the 1950s, the sending of cards to a loved one on Valentine’s Day was reintroduced by the USA.  Interestingly 15th

Annual visit to Number 63 Bayswater Road London – 3rd February 2022

Annual visit to Number 63 Bayswater Road London – 3rd February 2022

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Good News after missing last year due to Covid restrictions this year 13 of us including Soroptimisters were able to visit London and stay at our very own Soroptimist boutique hotel.  During the day we made our own arrangements visiting museums, art galleries and many other historic places.  On the first night we all gathered at our usual lovely Italian restaurant near the hotel and then on the Friday night we all went to the Phoenix Theatre and enjoyed the popular musical “Come from Away” We really missed our visit to London last year and so many, many  thanks to Pauline and Ruth for making it happen.

We Welcomed John Hurst to our Supper Meeting 10th January 2022: President of the Rotary Club of Bristol

We Welcomed John Hurst to our Supper Meeting 10th January 2022: President of the Rotary Club of Bristol

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On 10th January 2022, we commenced the year with a talk by John Hurst, the current President of the Rotary Club of Bristol. He gave an overview of his work in Bristol and goals for Rotary. John arrived in Bristol in 1997 with the remit “not to let Broadmead die due to Cribbs Shopping Mall opening in 1998”. He was instrumental in securing £65 million to develop Cabot Circus and was involved in ‘Destination Bristol’, which developed into ‘Visit West’. Along with other public figures, John’s house and cars were vandalised. The Rotary Club of Bristol currently has 51 members with an average age of 71 years. Like many other organisations, Rotary is finding it hard to recruit new members and to motivate existing members to take office and work enthusiastically. They are considering a Club for younger people with a different format – maybe

What Have We Done as 2021 Closes? We Now Look Forward to 2022

What Have We Done as 2021 Closes? We Now Look Forward to 2022

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Orange the World: Railing Against Abuse Yet again we Oranged the World starting at our Club Meeting on November 22nd saying “no” to Abuse.  Then on Thursday 25th November we joined a Regional “Railing Against Abuse” march organised by Soroptimist Weston-super-Mare in Weston and a group of Bristol club members also met at the Clifton Rocks Railway in Bristol (built in the 1800’s), tied orange ribbons on the gate to saying “No to violence against women”. For the “16 Days of Activism” we posted on social media and then finally on the 10th December we held a Zoom meeting inviting our Friendship Links and had a speaker from Save the Children.  A fitting way to end our 16 days of Activism Saturday 27th November St Peter’s Hospice Fundraiser:  Our Charity of the Year Our Soroptimist Bristol team had a stall in a Gift & Craft Fair in

Regional Meeting November 2021: A New Members Experience

Regional Meeting November 2021: A New Members Experience

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Lynda reports on her first experience at the Regional Meeting. “My excellent mentor, Marion, keeps me on my toes and suggested we went to the Regional Committee last Saturday, 13th November in Taunton.   I wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about it needless to say but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.   We had two excellent talks before lunch, the first by two amazing and devoted young women, Gemma and Sophie from the Nelson Trust.   This service was designed to respond to the needs of women accessing treatment who often had significant histories of trauma and abuse both in childhood and as adults.The second was by Natalie Giles from the Somerset Integrated Domestic Abuse Service who had some truly harrowing tales to tell but who has devoted her career to helping women and some men in the most amazing way.   Both talks were fascinating.The agenda of the meeting

Speaker Meeting 8th November 2021: The Funny Side of Medicine – In general and anaesthesia in particular – Sir Peter Simpson

Speaker Meeting 8th November 2021: The Funny Side of Medicine – In general and anaesthesia in particular – Sir Peter Simpson

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Sir Peter first described the definition of funny “Funny Medical and Nursing staff and what people get up to”.  He asked “does medicine need to be funny”?  He showed photographs of St Bartholomew’s Hospital London where he trained and photographs of the Professors who taught him.  He told us how they used rhymes to remember things such as parts of the anatomy and described how different from now it was then on the wards at Christmas and the fun they had carving the turkey.  He also described the fun they had with eminent people. He said it was important to have something to keep up the morale of staff when disasters happened such as the bombings of Old Bailey and Tower of London.  There were lots of anecdotes about how things were done and the fun they had too.  He also showed letters sent to

Tasters from SIGBI Federation’s 87th Conference (virtual) Llandudno 29th-30th October 2021

Tasters from SIGBI Federation’s 87th Conference (virtual) Llandudno 29th-30th October 2021

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Friday 29th October Conference was opened by Anne MacDonald with remembrances. We remembered Dr Barbara Dixon and President Johanna Raffan.  Sadly Johanna died during her SIGBI  Presidential year we all took a moment to reflect on their lives. The remembrances were followed by our Vision and Mission statements.  The flags of all the countries in our Federation were shown and the countries named.  We were shown slides to celebrate our 100 years and we were delighted that the original Venture Clubs featured our very own Addison Philips, SI Bristol’s Founder, and other photographs that we had submitted of our early years.  They also acknowledge that SI Bristol celebrated 100 years in 2020. Then we were shown the “#WhoIsShe” candidates with our very own Sue Perry on the front page followed by our other candidates. The first keynote speaker was Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE “Doing a

The Lord Mayor Honours SI Bristol: A Face-to-Face Celebration (see also 20th March 2021)

The Lord Mayor Honours SI Bristol: A Face-to-Face Celebration (see also 20th March 2021)

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On Wednesday 20th October 2021, Lizzie and Marion represented SI Bristol at a special event at the Mansion House. The event was the postponed in-person celebration of 2020 Covid Medal winners and was unusual in that two Lord Mayors were present: last year’s The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Bristol Councillor Jos Clark and the current year’s The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Bristol Councillor Steve Smith. Steve gave a brief history of the Mansion House and a selection of art works. Jos thanked everyone for the contributions to Bristol during the coronavirus pandemic. SI Bristol was awarded the Lord Mayor’s Covid Medal in March 2021 for their outstanding contribution to the City of Bristol during the coronavirus pandemic. They were one of only seven organisations in Bristol to be so honoured. Their activities Included distributing over 1,000 knitted teddy bears (10 for each 100

Speaker Meeting 11th October 2021: Bristol Blue Plaques and the Women they Honour – Lori Streich – The Bristol Civic Society

Speaker Meeting 11th October 2021: Bristol Blue Plaques and the Women they Honour – Lori Streich – The Bristol Civic Society

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  Lori started by telling us that the Bristol Blue Plaque scheme was originally run by Bristol City Council but is now organised by the Bristol Civic Society.          The request for a plaque is put forward and the Society then researches the person to ensure that they are connected to the building and that their achievements warrant a plaque.  Sometimes they are people who have a low profile but have done amazing things.  The plaque is funded by the nominee and has to be approved through planning applications. There are plaques to individual women and sometimes more than one on the same plaque, Lori spoke of some women that we are familiar with and many more.  She showed us the plaque dedicated in July 2021, as part of our Centenary celebrations, to our very own Addison-Phillips.  She said “a plaque to

Three New Club Members in 2021 – Despite the Covid Pandemic

Three New Club Members in 2021 – Despite the Covid Pandemic

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We are delighted that we have been able to induct three new members this year and we would like to welcome them to our club.    Lynda was inducted during the Covid restrictions and Jess as the restrictions were relaxed both of whom have already been active and joined in our events.  We are now having regular face-to-face Speaker Meetings and on the 11th October we were pleased that we could induct Andrea too.  Welcome to you all