What a wonderful evening we had at our AGM. We were joined by 18 members, 3 link members and a prospective member.
Gareth and his team at Veeva provided us with a fantastic buffet and his trio of puddings were, as usual, fantastic!
Celebrating the work we have done
The AGM is always an opportunity to celebrate the work we have done during the year- this year was no exception.
Working Internationally
Early in the year we were donated a significant amount of clothing and we held two clothes sale which raised over £500 for Ukrainian refugees.
We have continued to support the Purple Community Fund (PCF). We sent a box to Manila in November 2021 which was received in April 2022 and the contents distributed. The parcel helped 4 mothers (pre and post-natal) and 15 students. This supported PCF education programme which has a >90% success rate in keeping children in school.
In addition, we provided funds to support PCF start up projects.
We continue to collect ring pulls and sent 4.85Kg (16,167) of ring pulls to PCF in 2022/23; this equates to a donation of £485.
We continue to support Water Aid. The provision of clean water has been identified by the UN as requiring a gender-based approach given that women and girls are disproportionally affected by the provision of water.
Working in the Environment
Last year we planted trees in Commongate Farm, Moresby. Two maintenance sessions were held in the summer – this only involved cutting the grass – thankfully.
Several Balsam Bashing sessions were set up by West Cumbria Rivers Trust and a couple of members supported this. One member also helped with the tree planting/willow pegging activities.
A group of up to 4 members worked with SI Penrith members to provide bedmaking services to Calvert Trust over July/August. This supports the Trust by allowing its staff to be utilised elsewhere.
Working in our local community
A donation was made to Parkinson’s UK following a successful quiz evening.
For our 16 Days of Action we refurbished our display in Firn’s window to make it specifically about the Violence Against Women and Girls campaign. The theme was statues/work of art around the world which represented victimised women and hope. These pictures were then shared on our Facebook page. Several teddies with orange scarves and badges were also displayed to emphasis the colour orange.
Welcoming our new President
We were delighted to welcome our new President, Tellervo.
Tellervo has an exciting year planned where we will focus on Membership, Women’s Health, and Diversity. We really look forward to seeing what this year bring!