SI Cannock & District held its AGM at The Barns on 3rd April. The meeting marked the end of a busy year with President Val Jones at the helm. Val and the Club’s Officers reported on the successes and achievements of the year, thanking club members for their support. The year had seen some special events: a visit from King Henry VIII, a Cocktail evening at the President’s home, a summer celebration lunch at a member’s home and Christmas celebrations at The Barns as well as many very interesting speakers. During the year club members have continued to support Pathway and Staffordshire Women’s Aid, the services for women victims of Domestic Violence, by providing toiletries throughout the year and Christmas gifts; the Soup Kitchen in Mill Street when Cannock Soroptimists helped to provide and prepare a Christmas meal and have supported Cannock Food Bank. In

Cannock Soroptimists held their AGM at the beginning of April. One of the final tasks out-going President Val Jones undertook was to acknowledge the years of service to Soroptimist International – and the Cannock & District club – that three members in particular have given. Pam McGauley, Trish Mellor and Lakhwinder Thompson all joined the Club in 1998 and so have each given 20 years of service to SI Cannock & District. To mark the occasion President Val presented each of them with a long service certificate. All three members have held the role of President within the club and Trish and Lakhwinder have each been club secretary. Trish has been Programme Action Officer, co-ordinating the work the club does to educate, enable and empower women and girls and has been the Club’s Press Officer for a number of years. Lakhwinder has been Treasurer, Membership

At the last Business meeting of her year as President of SI Cannock & District, Val Jones was delighted to present a cheque for £515.00 to the Special Needs Adventure Playground – SNAP – in Cannock. Bob Heighway, Chairman of SNAP went along to the meeting to receive the cheque. The money was raised at a coffee morning held at the home of Soroptimist Trish Mellor who thanked everyone for their incredible generosity which enabled them to raise such a fantastic sum. Bob told members he was amazed at the amount they had raised and expressed the gratitude of everyone who uses the wonderful facility on the Pye Green Road. Schools and families travel from all over the area to use SNAP as there is nowhere else locally for these youngsters to go. He explained that they rely on donations such as this one to

Cannock Soroptimists were thrilled when club member Dr Janis Lomas had a book published very recently. The book, ‘The History of Women in 100 Objects’ was written in collaboration with Professor Maggie Andrews and was featured in a national newspaper on International Women’s Day. It contains fascinating articles and pictures on such objects as the washing machine, sanitary towels, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and the scolds bridle! The 100 objects tell the tale of women and womanhood and symbolize the journey of women from second-class citizens with no legal rights, no vote and no official status to the people they are today. Some of the items oppressed women – maybe some still do that today. The launch was held at the Redditch Needle Museum on March 10th having been postponed earlier because of the weather conditions. Both women are historians specialising in Women’s

President Val Jones welcomed members to the final speaker meeting of her year in office. The speaker for the occasion was Graham White talking about the amazing transformation of his large garden plot into a stunning horticultural vision, which won him and his wife Judy a highly recommended place in the National Garden Scheme (NGS). With no previous experience he overcame the formidable obstacles of a steep embankment leading down into a swamp and small stream. He achieved this this with wife Judy – along with the muscle power of three teenage sons! They moved into their home in Uttoxeter 26 years ago and spent the first 17 years creating the garden which is now open to the public each year through the NGS. It was a fascinating and entertaining story which everyone thoroughly enjoyed – and the end result shown with some super photos

Cannock Soroptimists held a very successful coffee morning to raise funds for Cannock’s Special Needs Adventure Playgound – SNAP – located on the Pye Green Road. It is the only facility of its kind in the area, families come from all over the County and beyond to use it. Soroptimists have had an involvement with SNAP over many years and they were delighted to host this event for them. Nearly 50 people went along to the coffee morning held at the home of Soroptimist Trish Mellor; members and their friends and families were incredibly generous by donating cakes, raffle prizes and items for the bring and buy stall. As well as enjoying a morning of friendship everyone who went along was equally generous with the raffle and the bring and buy and a fabulous sum of £510.00 was raised!! Bob Heighway, Chair of SNAP, came

President Val Jones was delighted to induct a new member into the Cannock Soroptimist Club recently. She is Olivia Lyons, a young woman in her 20s whom President Val has known for a number of years. Olivia has attended several meeting and events as a guest and felt this organisation was the right one for her to join to enable her to pursue interests with other like minded women. Olivia lives in Rugeley where she was educated; it was whilst doing her Duke of Edinburgh award at Fair Oak School she realized she had a passion to assist and help others. She built on this at University, spending any spare time volunteering alongside various community groups, particularly helping the vulnerable. She was elected President of the Raise and Give Society (RAG) whose sole purpose was to arrange and fundraise for various charities through fun and

President of SI Cannock, Val Jones, is proud of her Scottish heritage and invited members and friends to celebrate this with her at a Burns Night, celebrated all over the world, showing the on-going influence of Rabbie Burns. The evening was well attended with everyone making a particular effort to support Val by wearing something tartan – whether clothing, a sash or a ribbon; some even managed to locate white heather or the purple thistle! The tables were decorated with tartan ribbons to continue the celebration. President Val performed the Selkirk Grace and the “Address To The Haggis’ in true Scots style before everyone enjoyed a meal which included the choice of haggis, Scottish beef or Scottish salmon followed by traditional Scottish desserts, all prepared and served wonderfully by staff at the Barns Hotel. After the meal President Val ensured that everyone could toast the

This year Cannock Soroptimists again supported the Pathway Project by providing Christmas gifts such as clothing, beauty packs, toys & games for women and children who will be spending Christmas in the refuge run by the Pathway Project for women victims of domestic violence. The donated gifts filled two cars and the gifts, together with wrapping paper and all the trimmings, were gratefully accepted by staff from Pathway. On Christmas morning the women and children will be able to open gifts specially chosen for them, knowing that they are being thought of – and hopefully this will help them a little at such an emotional time of year. Some members of SI Cannock recently attended the Pathway AGM and were moved to hear stories from the women who are domestic violence victims and who have benefitted from the services provided by Pathway. The stories heard

Cannock Soroptimists enjoyed a double military presentation at their November speaker meeting with two speakers, Colonel Richard Logan, Commandant of the Staffordshire Army Cadets and Cadet Staff Sgt Rachel Humphries, who has recently been awarded the prestigious honour of “Lord Lieutenant Cadet”. Listeners were surprised to learn that Army Cadets belong to one of the oldest and largest youth volunteer organisations in the country: it is now 150 years old and there are currently over 39,000 cadets, all aged between 13 and 18 years. Girls were first admitted in the 1980s, in fact Rugeley was the first detachment nationally to take girls! Today 30% of cadets are girls. Although many activities have a military theme many do not, all are designed to develop life skills, and especially develop confidence. It is inclusive, many youngsters who become cadets deal with a variety of disabilities and learning