August 4th: Thirteen members met for a meal in Babul’s, Darlington. We were not all sitting at a single table, so it wasn’t unlucky!  Food and company – both very enjoyable.  August 11th: coffee morning at Laurie’s. Four different sorts of scones and a date & walnut loaf – delicious!  Good to keep in touch during the month in which we have no meeting.

June 28th: Three members went to Sunderland and enjoyed listening to a variety of speakers and exchanging ideas with Soroptimists from other clubs.

We were delighted to welcome Fiona Saunders-Priem into the club at our June meeting.

We welcomed family, friends, and members of SI Stockton on Tees and SI Lurgan, (the Regional President of Northern Ireland), to an excellent talk by Caroline Hardie about the women of the S&DR, many of whom were neglected at the time and forgotten until Caroline shone a light on them.

Five members spent a day volunteering with the charity 4Louis in Sunderland.  We  followed this with a visit to ‘Molly’ and an exhibition in the National Glass  Centre.

We welcomed new member, Kate Grogan, into the club at our AGM on April 7th.

Three club members went to Carlisle for the Northern Regional Council Meeting on 15th March.  Elspeth Robinson was presented with a rose plant to celebrate her MBE, awarded in the New Year Honours.

As it was a beautifully sunny day, our market stall welcomed a lot of visitors. The majority already knew it was International Women’s Day – and now they know about Soroptimists too! We handed out over fifty roses to grateful and happy recipients.  

We welcomed Sally and Sayeda from Darlington Assistance for Refugees, who gave us an update on the work of DAR and, in Sayeda’s case, an account of the support she and her family have received from the organisation since they came from Egypt to Darlington. Following a number of questions from the floor, Liz Hayward gave the Vote of Thanks.