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

April 2022 saw the AGM of an extremely successful year for Cannock Soroptimists under the leadership of President Jackie Prince.The year began with the 2021 AGM held on Zoom; gradually things changed and club members are now enjoying meeting together again at The Barns, Huntington. In her final address to the club as President, Jackie said there had been various things she had wanted to achieve in her year, the main one being to encourage everyone in the club to contribute in some way by the end of the year. Jackie had also wanted to introduce monthly wellbeing events with the help of her nominated charity Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles. As it was Soroptimist International’s Centenary Year there were a number of projects that the club focused on, the main ones were Planting 100 Trees, carrying out 100 Acts of Kindness and the Centenary Celebration. The

As her final task as President of SI Cannock & District, Jackie Prince was delighted to present a long service award to one of their club members. Trish Smith became a Soroptimist 20 years ago.  For many of those years she has lived for part of the year in South Africa but that has not stopped her from being an active supporter of the club’s work to educate, enable and empower women and girls.  Because she was in this country for just over 6 months of each year, she always felt it better that she didn’t take on an officer role though she took part in and led many projects both in Cannock and in areas near to Cape Town, providing opportunities for women and girls. Three years ago, Trish took on the role of Joint President which proved very successful and, in 2020 when

As her Presidency draws to an end, Jackie Prince held her final wellbeing event which was a coffee morning! As well as an opportunity to meet up, it was also a chance to say thank you to everyone at Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles [IHL] charity who had facilitated the monthly wellbeing events throughout the year. Many club members and their families were there, along with Lisa Shephard and Gez Hill from IHL – all thoroughly enjoying the chat, the fun, the coffee – and, of course, the wonderful cakes made by club members! There was a Bring and Buy Sale, with proceeds being donated to the charity; this will enable them to provide well-being sessions for other groups in the future. Club members also took along to the coffee morning items for Ukrainian children traumatised by the war: they are supporting their Mother Club, SI Bilston,