Cannock and District Soroptimists again supported Cannock Friends of St Giles by taking part in the St Giles Summer Solstice walk. This year St Giles Hospice organised “Summer Solstice – Your Way” a 5K walk which could be done anywhere on any day during June. Soroptimists chose to walk on the Saturday nearest to the Summer Solstice and to do the walk suggested by St Giles at Marquis Drive on Cannock Chase. Nine club members and two dogs met to enjoy each other’s company and the beautiful views – and were ready for a coffee from the Visitor Centre Café when they finished the walk. They each wore this year’s Summer Solstice logo where they had written the names of those they were walking for and remembering and were delighted to meet others along the way also walking for St Giles Hospice. Those who walked

Cannock and District Soroptimists were delighted to take advantage of the easing of lockdown and meet together in the garden of Soroptimist June Bould to mark Membership month and enjoy coffee, cake and friendship.  Everyone enjoyed the chance to actually talk to each other at long last! Newest member Jill Mason; one of the club’s longer serving members Carole Holdcroft (a member for 34 years) and Club President Jackie Prince all spoke of their reasons for joining Soroptimist International and what it is that they enjoy about their membership.  They each said that they had been drawn by what Cannock & District Soroptimists actually DO, certainly the things they do to help locally but also the work nationally and internationally to enable, educate and empower women and girls. Each of them likes to help others and recognises the strength of people working together to channel

  It is the Centenary year of Soroptimist International and one of the projects for clubs worldwide is ‘Plant Trees for a Brilliant Future’. President of Cannock Soroptimists Jackie Prince is working with a team of club members to arrange for 100 trees to be planted during the year.  The project follows in the footsteps of our first Soroptimists, who, in 1921, lobbied to save the great Redwoods and established ‘The Redwood Grove’ in California, and is also in line with work Soroptimists do to protect the Planet. So far, 28 trees have been planted in the Club’s name and all are registered on the tree planting website.  The son of one member has planted 2 Olive & 2 Holm oak trees in his Cannock garden & a friend of his has planted 2 ash & 2 cherry trees. McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands, situated

Watch our video to find out more about what we stand for and why we love being Soroptimists Cannock & District Soroptimists on Vimeo If you want to join us email soropscannock@gmail.com  

Cannock Soroptimists are supporting Dementia Action Week, 17th – 23rd May by featuring real life stories from those who care for people with Dementia. Some give their story as a family carer: wife or daughter, others are talking about their caring role within a professional setting.  All are extremely powerful, written from the heart and Soroptimists are grateful to all participants for having the courage to write about such personal and emotive matters. Each of the seven participants will be featured, one per day during the week, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, all will be featured for the whole week and beyond on the club’s website. A staff member from Littleton Lodge, Cannock  [residents will be moving in there very soon] but who has also experienced Dementia in the family writes: “It is imperative to remember that, though the person may have dementia, this does

At their recent AGM, held using Zoom, Cannock Soroptimists welcomed their new President, Jackie Prince.  Jackie has been a member of the club for almost 4 years and during that time she has been totally involved in the work of the club, for the last two years as joint Programme Action Officer and joint Press Officer.  Jackie is fairly recently retired from her job as a trainer with West Midlands Police, a role which gave her an insight into many of the issues affecting our society today; this insight has enabled her to be proactive concerning projects the club could initiate. When accepting the insignia from out-going President Trish Smith, Jackie thanked Trish for all that she had done to keep the club together during the pandemic and indeed, to move projects forward. President Jackie said: “I became a Soroptimist because I wanted to make

Cannock Soroptimists have been lucky to be led by their President Trish Smith for two years.  She took office at the AGM in April 2019 – but by April 2020 the pandemic had altered everything for us all.  President Trish set up the first Zoom meeting for the club, it happened to be the AGM and, as the situation was so unsure, all Officers agreed to stay in post for a further year.  In her address in April 2020, President Trish said:  “Let’s hope that it won’t be long before we are able to resume our work and meetings.”  Little did we know that 12 months later we would still be finding it necessary to hold our meetings by zoom – though outdoor meetings in small groups are now possible. In her report at the 2021 AGM, President Trish was able to remind members of

As her final task as President of SI Cannock & District, Trish Smith was delighted to visit two members of the club to present them with their long service awards. Lilian Hyde has been a Soroptimist for 30 years and has always been an active supporter of the club’s work to educate, enable and empower women and girls.  For many years she was minute secretary; she has regularly organised fund raising raffles and for many years she has sewn comfort bags to be given to women who enter a refuge for women escaping domestic abuse.  Over the years Lilian has made thousands of these bags and filled them with essential toiletries so that the women have something of their own to enable them to maintain some dignity when they arrive at the Pathway or Women’s Aid Refuges. Dr. Janis Lomas received her certificate marking 20

It is said that every cloud has a silver lining – and lockdown has proved that for SI Cannock & District as they have gained two new members. Once outdoor meetings were permissible, President Trish Smith arranged to induct Adrienne Hewitt and Jill Mason.  They met, keeping to the rule of six, on a sunny but cold morning – and reveled in the opportunity to meet together once more. Membership secretary June Bould and President Elect Jackie Prince were on hand to witness them becoming members of Soroptimist International as was Trish Mellor who was their sponsor. President Trish Smith welcomed them to the club, telling them that they were joining the women worldwide who are bound together in service and friendship. Both Adrienne, a local Councillor, and Jill, a teaching assistant,  have been involved with the club’s projects over the past year, collecting and

SI Cannock & District marked International Women’s Day 2021 by featuring 12 local women on their social media, their website and by inviting them to a special evening conducted on Zoom. The theme this year is #ChooseToChallenge – gender equality. These women have chosen to challenge stereotypes by going into careers traditionally thought of as male roles. Cannock Soroptimists approached a firefighter, prison officer, a Sky technician, a local Councillor, an MP, and CEOs of local organisations to ask them to share their experiences, positive and negative, of having a successful career in what might be seen as mainly a man’s world. They also wanted to highlight how working mothers have coped during the pandemic, juggling working from home with home schooling alongside running a home and all that entails. Seven of the women were able to accept the invitation to join the meeting to