Whilst the weather was still in their favour Cannock Soroptimists managed to meet outdoors on a few occasions for coffee, socially distanced and in appropriately sized groups! They all loved it – there’s nothing like coffee, cake and a good chat! Being Soroptimists, they took full advantage of the occasions and all made donations to their current book project – they have an arrangement with a local charity to save children’s books from being pulped and deliver them to Books4Home, another charity which then distributes them to children who otherwise would not have a book of their own: definitely a win-win! This week, President Trish Smith collected, counted and delivered the books – helped by her dog, Toby who showed a keen interest! So far, 581 books have been delivered to Beverley Ricketts, who runs the RotaryBooks4Home project. At one of the coffee mornings, President

Cannock Soroptimist and member of WI Dr Janis Lomas has just published her fourth book since 2014! Historian Janis writes with fellow historian Professor Maggie Andrews, they specialise in Women’s History. This book is titled “Widows – Poverty, Power and Politics”; it tells the stories of many fascinating women, some famous, others unknown and demonstrates the way in which they faced life after being widowed. Women were once the property of men and owners of nothing. Being widowed gave many women the freedom to conduct themselves however they wished and for some, it was the making of them! What is common to them all is that their struggles have contributed to improving the lives of women today. The book is available on line and in many bookstores. All members of Cannock Soroptimists and Cannock WI are extremely proud of Janis! Photo attached: 1. Dr Janis

Cannock Soroptimists are excited to be able to support Rotary Books4Home, a charity they’ve had involvement with for some time – and this is a perfect way to mark International Literacy Day 2020.  Rotary Books4Home is organised and managed locally by Beverley Ricketts, honorary member of the Rotary Club of Cannock.  She was inspired by an article she read a few years ago: the article explained that Rotarians had discovered that the children in the school they were working in had very little access to books at home. In response to this the Rotary Club donated pre-read books to the school. The children were able to choose a book, take it home and keep it forever. With a little further research Beverley discovered that it is not uncommon for children to have limited access to books at home. This year, more than ever, because of

#Whoisshe?As part of the celebration of the first centenary of Soroptimist International in 2021, local member Trish Mellor of SI Cannock has been selected as one of more than 100 Soroptimists to be commemorated as part of the #Whoisshe? Campaign. A pen portrait and photograph of Trish will appear on the Soroptimist Centenary website from the start of this month here: https://sigbi.org/soroptimistcentenary2021/a-brilliant/showcasing-one-hundred-soroptimists-for-the-centenary-100-4-100/whoisshe-soroptimists-for-the-centenary/ Trish joined SI Cannock April 1998 and is the lifeblood of our club.  She has undertaken a range of executive roles in the club including President and Vice President and has also undertaken national and regional responsibilities.  For many years she has been Programme Action Lead and Press Officer.  She brings the club together and is instrumental in encouraging and supporting new members to get involved in whatever way they can.SI Cannock is so lucky to have Trish Mellor as a member, without her

Cannock Soroptimists Jackie Prince and Trish Mellor attended the International AGM recently – from the comfort of their own homes!  This was all thanks to Zoom. Under ‘normal’ conditions, it’s unlikely that a member of the Cannock Club would have attended the SI AGM, but, because of the restrictions caused by Covid-19, they were able to join 219 Soroptimists from all parts of the world at an AGM chaired by their International President Sharon Fisher, from Vancouver, Canada. Using the ‘chat’ facility on zoom they were able to give and receive messages to everyone there as well as say ‘hello’ to individuals they knew of, had met or knew well but don’t often get the chance to see. The screen share facility was used to great effect, allowing everyone to watch some superb presentations about the work of Soroptimists in the 5 Federations around the

Acting upon issues raised in their recent meetings about care of our planet, Cannock Soroptimists – and friends – are taking some actions to help. Most members are now enjoying at least one meat and fish free day every week and sharing their favourite recipes.  Eating less meat can mean a lower risk of many health problems for individuals whilst meat production can be harmful to our planet. Members decided it would be good to join, or do their own, litter picks. Soroptimists June Bould and Val Jones joined a litter pick in Heath Hayes and were quite shocked at the amount of litter dropped by people.  June will soon be organising further litter picks, hopefully on a monthly basis – others will be welcome to join in. A huge talking point was the amount of packaging goods are supplied in, food particularly; so much

Cannock Soroptimists joined their friendship link club in Melbourne, Australia this week – by zoom!! Holding meetings using Zoom has provided some real bonuses – not least people from all over the world being able to get together. SI Cannock and SI Melbourne usually keep in touch with each other by email, sending messages and sharing newsletters, but his week they all attended the same meeting: it was 9.30am here in the UK and 6.30pm in Australia – and how marvellous it was to put faces to some of the names! 9 Cannock members joined the meeting and listened to their speaker, Josephine Beer, who works in the department of Health and Human Services in the state of Victoria. Josephine, also a Soroptimist, described how, at the start of the worldwide pandemic, she had been given the task to lead the work of handling the

Cannock Soroptimists held an exciting meeting via zoom when they had a number of firsts: A presentation given by an 11 year old – Katie, daughter of club member Emma Hodges Their biggest zoom audience yet – 26, of which 11 were guests! One of Soroptimists’ Federation officers joined them – Naina Shah of SI Chennai, who leads on all environmental issues. Everyone utilized the ‘chat’ facility on zoom brilliantly! Katie Hodges started ‘Children Against Climate Change’ in November 2019 and held an event in Rugeley to try and get more people, in particular schools, to take these challenges seriously.  She was angry and upset that climate change wasn’t a priority.  Cannock Soroptimists had planned to invite Katie to one of their meetings to show her presentation – then came lockdown!  So instead, Katie gave her presentation virtually. Members and guests alike were enthused by

A Celebration of Membership – SI Cannock & District New Ways of Meeting & Getting in Touch Our group has always liked to keep in touch between meetings and in addition to the emails we have always sent, we set up a WhatsApp Group a long time before lockdown which has proved a fabulous way to get information to members quickly and easily. However when our club meetings had to be cancelled, we renewed our efforts to get those members that weren’t a part of the group to join in and it has proved a wonderful way of communicating and sharing information, offers of help and often photographs & video clips that have kept our spirits up! For a more personal chat, we have buddied each member with one other who have been able to provide one to one support to each other if and

Cannock Soroptimists were thrilled to receive a donation of clothes for babies, toddlers and young children from Newlife, the Charity for Disabled Children.  Despite suffering from a lack of funds themselves, Newlife are continuing to think of all of those in need and help out where they can. Sheila Brown, CEO of Newlife, was aware of the work done by Cannock Soroptimists to support women and children locally and so the donation was made.   6 Soroptimists worked outdoors, socially distancing, to sort the clothes into ages for boys and girls and then pack bags with clothes appropriate to the needs of some of the groups they work with.   Some of the clothes have gone to Pathway and Staffordshire Women’s Aid to be used by children currently within the refuges they run for women and children escaping domestic abuse.  The families leave home with