Last Saturday members and friends of SI Cannock & District spent an afternoon at Tutbury Castle where they enjoyed lunch followed by a talk from Lesley Smith, Curator of the Castle. Lesley is an historian, specializing in Tudor history as well as other areas; she is also an excellent speaker. On this occasion Lesley wore a Tudor costume made of velvet and with embroidery detail which would have been worn by a woman of the middle class – the costume itself weighs around 3 and a half stone! – and she spoke with her wonderful enthusiasm and wit about the life of a Tudor Housewife. We learned that many marriages were arranged with the average of age for marriage being 22 or 23 for women and 25 or 26 for men. They would have many children, though the average number to survive would be 4.

SI Cannock & District member Jenny Holmes held a Friendship coffee morning with a Bring and Buy stall to raise funds for the Club’s chosen charities for this, their Diamond Anniversary year. Many club members and friends went along and as well as enjoying coffee and home made cakes and pastries they raised a little over £120.00 for the Pathway Project and Staffordshire Women’s Aid. This will be added to funds raised throughout the year and cheques will be presented nearer to the AGM in April. At the end of January some members will be spending time at South Staffordshire College, Cannock Campus to raise awareness about many issues which affect women and girls. Amongst the issues being raised will be Domestic Violence –there will be information available from both organisations mentioned above. They will also be highlighting the symptoms of endometriosis and will have

SI Cannock & District invited two speakers to their first meeting of 2015: Roz Randall, Specialist Education Safeguarding Trainer, Staffordshire County Council and SI Midland Chase Region President, Carol Bailey. President of SI Cannock & District Janis Lomas was delighted to welcome both speakers and the many guests who had joined them, many of them from other Soroptimist Clubs in the Region. Roz began by outlining the many aspects of her role. Amongst those she trains within the wide safeguarding umbrella are school staff; School Governors; horse riding schools; dentist staff; newly qualified teachers; Fire Service staff; children’s care home staff. Child sexual exploitation is the priority area this year, not just for the Staffordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board but for Staffordshire Police too – working with health, education and social services. Roz stressed the importance of agencies sharing information as this is how those at

The two main charities being supported by SI Cannock & District in this, their Diamond Anniversary year, are the Pathway Project and Staffordshire Women’s Aid. Both organisations provide support and refuges for women victims of domestic violence and their children. There are numerous families resident at these Refuges at any one time; most families stay there for around 6 months. Part of the resettlement is around enabling the children to regain confidence and self esteem and also to reintroduce them to the idea of having fun. Children are traumatised when they enter the Refuge and find socialising difficult. They also need an outlet for their feelings and the opportunity to share time with other children who understand what they are going through. Trips and visits are an important part of this programme, though the organisations do not always have the funding available. The club recently

Each year on Human Rights Day, December 10th, the Soroptimist International President launches her President’s Appeal, inviting Soroptimists worldwide to join efforts to support an initiative she feels is of the utmost importance to women and girls. International President Ann Garvie’s Appeal, “See Solar, Cook Solar” will raise money for projects that educate women about renewable energy, while empowering and enabling opportunities for them by providing solar lanterns and cookers. It has become a tradition at SI Cannock & District for members to support this appeal by making donations in lieu of sending Christmas cards to other club members and this year was no exception. At the December meeting, when members were entertained b club member Shirley Brown and were visited by Father Christmas, a sum of £145 was donated and has been sent to the appeal which has continued from December 2013 as it

Each Christmas, SI of Cannock and District get involved in several projects to support others locally at Christmas. One of these is the Christmas Lunch at the Warming Welcome Soup Kitchen, at Mill Street Church. A number of ladies from the church run the soup kitchen on a weekly basis throughout the year, providing a hot meal for those who otherwise wouldn’t have one. At the beginning of December club members, led by Soroptimist Carole Holdcroft, join them to provide a three course Christmas Lunch and tea and mince pies which is partly funded by the Soroptimist club. This year was no exception – Carole and several other club members prepared, cooked and served a meal, complete with crackers and all the trimmings, to over 50 people. If the plates at the end were anything to go by, everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meal! < Photo

Cannock Soroptimists and friends got themselves into the Christmas spirit by visiting Trentham Gardens for a Christmas meal and a demonstration of tree decorating and how to make a seasonal door wreath. The meal and the friendship was an excellent start to the evening and everyone had fun considering how they might decorate their own tree at home. The door wreath inspired many to ‘have a go’ using items they may well find in their own gardens. Afterwards they enjoyed the opportunity for an exclusive shopping experience. As well as enjoying Christmas themselves, Soroptimists will be doing all that they can to enable others to enjoy Christmas too. They will be providing gifts for women and children at Pathway: there will be many women victims of domestic violence and their children spending Christmas at a Women’s Refuge run by Pathway or Women’s Aid. These women

The meeting on 11.11.14 was presided over by other club members who stood in for President Janis, who was attending the launch of her book in Worcester: “The Home Front in Britain” which she co-edited with Professor Maggie Andrews. The friendship candle, surrounded by rosemary and poppies, was lit by Shirley Brown on this Remembrance Day, remembering all those people who had served their country over the last 100 years in conflict and acknowledging our responsibility to work for the peace they fought for. The speaker this evening was one of only 14 Professional lady Toastmasters in the country. Marion Canning explained that a Toastmaster is typically charged with the organisation of civic events, banquets, organisation meetings, product launches and high profile dinners. Then she outlined her progression from hopeful young woman wishing to join the select company of toastmasters to eventually gaining a most

Kate Young became the youngest member of Cannock Soroptimists when President Janis Lomas inducted her into the organisation at the September business meeting.   Kate is 36 and having worked for 12 years in local government as a Senior HR manager, she decided to change career after experiencing health issues and now is self employed as a success and wellbeing coach, helping people overcome the things that are preventing them from living a life they love!   Kate read about SI Cannock & District in the local press and felt this was the organisation she was looking for as she had always wanted to do something more to support women suffering from issues such as FGM and domestic violence but was never really sure how she could make a difference herself.   She told members that she has always been passionate about women’s equality both locally