Cannock Soroptimists recently celebrated the 64th Anniversary of their Charter, the club was formed in 1955. This year’s Annual Dinner was held at Brocton Hall Golf Club and was attended by members and friends from Cannock and from other clubs within the Midland Chase Region. President June Bould welcomed special guests Amanda Milling MP; Jan Gray, President SI Midland Chase Region and speaker for the evening Anna Turney, paralympic ski racer. Amanda Milling MP made the toast to Soroptimist International; the organisation is almost 100 years old. She praised the organisation for the work it does to improve and enhance the lives of women and had looked at all that women in Parliament have achieved in the last 100 years, from Nancy Astor, the first woman in Parliament in 1919, through to today when there are 208 women MPs and the second woman Prime Minister. She is very proud of the fact that all female MPs work together as a team, she believes that is what makes all women strong and enables them to achieve great things.
President June’s theme for the year has been “Life is a journey, not a destination” and it was with this in mind that she invited Anna Turney to come and speak, knowing that she had taken an incredible journey which inspires so many. Anna was hoping to be a world class snowboarder when, in 2006, she had an horrific accident in a boarder cross race and broke her back. In the previous race she had finished less than one second behind GBs No 1 so was determined to do just that little bit better and become a pro snowboarder – after her accident those particular hopes were dashed completely.
She had operations, exercises, physio – and an amazing positive attitude. After going through a real low time and wondering how she could ever live a ‘normal’ life again she began to concentrate on what she could do and how she could improve. She was introduced to people who had overcome disabilities themselves and that led her to believe that she would be able to do some of the things she loved again. Anna considers herself very fortunate – although she cannot stand she has good abdominal muscles, strong arms and hands and good balance. She believes it’s harder for family members who all feel helpless, but maintains it’s their support that have enabled her to get back to skiing and competing.
Her brother went skiing with her, she practiced at the Snow Dome and eventually was chosen for the GB Paralympic Squad. In the 2010 Winter Paralympics she finished in 6th place having begun as a rank outsider. She set new goals for 2014, won European and World Cup medals and competed in all 5 disciplines in Sochi 2014 where she finished in 4th place. She admits that initially that felt like failure as she wasn’t on the podium, but others helped her to put it in perspective and realise what a huge achievement it was. Anna’s mantra – used in her presentations to schools – was and is: Dream; Team; Routine: be inspired and dream about it; build your team; work day in and day out to achieve. She puts her success down to this and believes that with the right attitude and the right people around us we can all achieve incredible things!
Photo : Members of SI Cannock & District with guest speaker Anna Turney [front left] and Amanda Milling MP[back row, 2nd from left]; June Bould, President SI Cannock & District back row, 4th from left.