Cannock & District Soroptimist Club is part of Midland Chase Region – which currently comprises 8 clubs. Each year the Region holds a conference giving club members the chance to meet and hear excellent speakers all speaking around the Region President’s theme. This year 13 members of Cannock club attended the conference, held at Brocton Hall Golf Club and, as usual, it was an interesting and thought provoking day. Region President Lyn Shiel, a member of SI Tamworth, had chosen as her theme: Stay Positive, Work Hard and Make It Happen! Her speakers demonstrated how they do exactly that! Charlotte Candy’s title was How Women Can Thrive in the Construction Industry – she is currently a leading Risk Assessment manager working on national and international projects and has had to challenge some outdated assumptions. Beverley Gilbert has challenged stereotypes for most of her life; she

The new Soroptimist year started on a very positive note when three new members were welcomed into the club. Lead Team President Carole Holdcroft said she was honoured to induct Alison Murray, Caryn Hewitt and Julia Kenny as members of SI Cannock & District. Together with Jill Mason, part of the Membership Team, the three ladies were officially welcomed and presented with their badges. All three have already shown that they will be excellent Soroptimists by getting involved with events and projects: Alison, a secretary with HMCS and schools, is a member of the team of West Hill Readers; Caryn, a bank clerk, has got involved with the Women’s Safety group and Julia, Business Analyst and HR manager with a national transport firm is involved with the Books4Home project. Alison, Caryn and Julia all said they had found the club very friendly and welcoming and

691 books!  That was the fantastic total collected by 7 year old Emilia and donated to Books4Home. Emilia is the great niece of Soroptimist Trish Mellor and is an avid reader, she adores books; when she heard that there were children who do not have books of their own she could hardly believe it. So she decided to help – and immediately sorted out books of her own she was willing to give. Then, together with her Mom, Dad and younger sister she set about asking friends and school mates if they had any books they were willing to donate; she set herself a target of 250 books. After less than a week she had gone over that number – and was spurred on to continue collecting. Others in their home town in Shropshire heard of what Emilia was doing and she and her Mom,

SI Cannock held it’s AGM at The Barns on 18 th April, giving its members the opportunity to look back on another successful year! The club has been run by a team this year rather than a single President, and will be run the same way in the coming year. The outgoing Lead Team President Trish Smith thanked everyone for their help and support. The theme for the year was ‘We’re all in this together!’ and that was evident throughout the year. Members were encouraged to chair meetings, arrange speakers and organize events which they did with enthusiasm and flair. Trish thanked these members for their efforts and hoped that they enjoyed the experience. They also celebrated the successful projects the club undertook through the year – existing ones and many new ones – such as being a huge part in enabling the Books4Home charity

Soroptimist Jill Gooch led the team who organised the Club’s 68 th Annual Dinner – held on the actual 68 th anniversary of the Club’s Charter in 1955! Lead Team President Trish Smith hosted the event which was enjoyed at The Barns by over 80 Soroptimists, family and friends. Other clubs from Midland Chase Region were represented and Lyn Shiel, Midland Chase Region President was delighted to attend and congratulate members on all of their achievements. Team President Trish also welcomed Bill Evans, Chairman of Cannock Chase Men’s Probus Club who proposed the Toast to Soroptimist International. The speaker for the evening was Geoff Tristram, Artist, cartoonist and Comedy Writer. Geoff’s talk concerned ‘bloomers’: whether they be grammatical, in translation to English or in paintings or sculpture and Geoff certainly had all of his audience laughing at the mistakes he has spotted over the years.

UKPAC Blog re SPIKING : ORANGE THE DAY 25 October 2022 Definitions of drink and needle spiking (Home Affairs Committee Report, published April 2022: -Drink spiking is when someone puts drugs or alcohol into a person’s drink without their knowledge or consent. It can include putting alcohol into a non-alcoholic drink, adding extra alcohol to an alcoholic drink or slipping prescription or illegal drugs (such as tranquilisers, amphetamines or GHB – liquid ecstasy) into an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink.  It can be difficult to tell whether a drink has been spiked, as substances used for spiking usually have no taste, odour or colour. -Needle spiking is where someone surreptitiously  injects, with a hypodermic needle (or other form of administration e.g., combi-pen) a victim with a substance. There has been a prevalence of drink spiking in recent years, but needle spiking appears to be a new

SI Cannock is aiming to provide books for local children in time for Christmas with collection points in local libraries

This year promises to be a little different for Cannock Soroptimists – as they have not just one President but the whole club working together sharing the many roles of President to show that they really are “All in this Together!”.  They do have one person officially named as President – and that is Trish Smith, who brought the club through Covid lockdowns so successfully.  She is the point of contact but club members are taking on organising speakers and special events, leading meetings, coordinating events with other clubs, organising agendas – along with the other tasks of being President of such a busy, vibrant club. They are certainly building on last year under President Jackie, whose aim for every member of the club to be actively involved was realised meaning that everyone discovered new things they could do, so living up to her theme

Cannock Soroptimists are becoming known as the CAN DO club! Recently, their mother club SI Bilston put out a request for help in providing toys and games for Ukrainian child refugees.  They needed to fill 200 shoeboxes – no mean feat! Cannock club sprang into action! Members, their family, friends and neighbours began to deliver colouring books, notebooks, pens, pencils and crayons, all sorts of toys and games including balls, cars, lego, soft toys, skipping ropes, bubble packs and toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Cannock & Penkridge Libraries acted as collection hubs too and members of the public yet again demonstrated their kindness and generosity. Local shoe shops provided empty boxes and groups of Cannock Soroptimists met to fill them with the fabulous goodies. Members were themselves amazed when they filled 81 boxes!! These have now been collected by Bilston club and will soon be at a