Celebrating 345 years of Service At our AGM this week we were delighted to present members with their long service award certificates. Certificates are for 25, 35 and a remarkable 40 years service. In total 345 years service- incredible! We took the opportunity to look at the current members – all told 557 years service. Wow !
Celebrating President Tellervo’s year of office Our AGM is always a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the work we have done. This year we were delighted to welcome 3 new members to the club, 2 new link members and we were joined by one of our past Presidents who was visiting the area. President Tellervo has had a fabulous year. We have celebrated diversity with a LGBTQ+ talk, joining Pride by the Harbour, and supporting Ukrainian families. We have continued to support Every Life Matters, Matthew Belshaw of Cumbria Police gave us a talk on the work they are doing to combat violence against women and girls. Dandelion coaching talked to us about menopause support. One of the highlights of the year was club member Claire’s trip to Mera Peak and the fundraising to initiate a sewing project with RUWON. 11 women are now learning to
Supporting Dementia Patients in A&E Having a loved one in A&E can be traumatic particularly if they have dementia or are agitated. We were delighted to deliver DVD CD, DVD players twiddle muffs and worry worms to Whitehaven A&E. We hope these bring some comfort. Thank you to all who have knitted, crocheted and donated CD. DVD and DVD players. We will continue to knit and crochet
Club member Claire self-funded the trip of a lifetime to trek in the Himalayas. The challenge was to summit Mera Peak at 6,476m – the highest trekking peak in Nepal, from where she was able to see a vista of mountains (including Everest) that she will never forget. During the 14-day trek she walked for 7 hours per day, slept in teahouses and felt temperatures of -25 deg C. An amazing opportunity to fully immerse in Nepali culture. Whilst in Nepal Claire took the opportunity to visit a charity which she believes will make a difference to the lives of Women and Girls in rural Nepal – RUWON Nepal Sewing and Tailoring Program. RUWON Nepal Sewing and Tailoring Program https://ruwonnepal.org.np/projects/empowerment/empowering-women-with-sewing-and-tailoring/ In August 2022, RUWON Nepal set up a free Sewing and Tailoring training program for underprivileged women from rural areas to learn the skills necessary
Proud and Diverse Cumbria Proud and Diverse Cumbria is a new volunteer led organisation, with a focus on being a strong, PROUD, supportive voice for Cumbria’s DIVERSE communities. Although initially this came from an LGBT+ standpoint it is keen to widen this to be diverse, inclusive and show equity for all. This new organisation held its inaugural Pride by the Harbourside event on Saturday 16th September. This event was about People, Educating, Enabling, Empowering, Awareness, Advocacy, Action – everything that Soroptimism is built on. What an event. Parades, music, drag queens, Company stalls, market stalls and just and AMAZING atmosphere.
Our Very Own Derwent Dippers Based on the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake , The Lake District Calvert Trust is a residential outdoor centre with 40 years of experience in delivering challenging outdoor adventure holidays for people with disabilities. http://www.calvert-trust.org.uk/lake-district For many years, over the summer months, we have made beds at the Calvert Trust in Keswick. This year was no different – from mid-July to mid-September we have had great fun clambering onto bunk beds, battling with pillow cases and duvets and been delighted to leave bedrooms ready for the next guests. Often making 50+ beds at a time. As well as service to the community it is a morning of chatter, catching up and a well-earned cuppa at the end. This year we recognised that The Calvert trust needed new bedding – Fund raising was required! Club members, Chris
Afternoon Tea in Support of BEEP Doctors Last year we had an excellent presentation from the BEEP Doctors. https://beepdoctors.co.uk/ This fantastic Cumbrian based charity, staffed by volunteers brings emergency medical care to the patient. Whether that is on the roadside at the scene of a road traffic accident or at home during a life-threatening emergency, the team of volunteer doctors have a variety of skill levels and are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide extra clinical care & interventions in medical emergencies that is not within the scope of practice of normal paramedics. We were so inspired by the work the charity we wanted to raise additional funds to support the charity. Several club members gathered to organise 2 fantastic afternoon teas. Club members were treated to scones (savoury AND sweet), strawberries and fizz and cake. It was ALL
Summer outings – the Theatre By The Lake and a Derwentwater Lake Cruise As a club we tend not to meet during the summer for club business, but this doesn’t prevent us from having some social meet ups and this year was no exception. We had two fabulous evenings in Keswick. Two of our newer members organised a lovely evening on the Keswick Launch followed by a fish and chip supper. They even managed to organise a beautiful summer’s evening so that we could enjoy the views. This was followed by an evening at the Theatre by the Lake, organised by club member Ros. We went to see The Thirty-Nine Steps.
Balsam Bashing – First use of our new Hi Vis Jackets We are seeing ever increasing swathes of Himalayan Balsam on our roadsides and riverbanks. Whilst this plant can look beautiful with its pink and white flowers and long swaying green stems it is classed as a Non Native Invasive Species. It is highly invasive, growing rapidly and smothering other vegetation as it goes. Its root system is known to destabilise the river banks. During August we worked with West Cumbria Rivers Trust (WCRT) https://www.westcumbriariverstrust.org/ to remove a patch of Himalayan Balsam from a section of the river Cocker. Several club members joined the working party and superbly modelled our newly acquired Hi Vis Jackets. We hope to join WCRT to continue the battle against this invasive plant next year.
SUSTAIN OUR FUTURES President Martha’s SINE Regional Conference June 27th 2023, The Auctioneer, Carlisle Some sixty members from across the Northern Region gathered for a day of information gathering, fellowship and a call to action around the theme of “Sustain Our Futures”. The Health Hazards of Climate Change and What We Can Do about Them Our opening speaker, Joe Human, truly challenged us with experiences of climate change in different parts of the world based on many years of work for Oxfam and as a Fairtrade campaigner. He highlighted not just extreme weather events but the long-term effects on people’s health and well-being. His presentation stimulated a great deal of comment, discussion and heartfelt feeling across the room (especially as the Region was experiencing a heatwave – though nowhere near the extremes of countries such as India). We must appreciate that heatwaves can kill! Is
