AGM – April 28th
At our AGM a cheque for £3,800 was presented to Georgia Lane, Regional Fundraising Team Leader at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice. Flowers were given to our outgoing Presidents, Jackie, Pat, Chris and June, and to incoming Presidents, Debbie, Linda and Pat.
Curry club – April 6th
Our latest curry club adventure saw us returning to Prashad in Drighlington. Pam from SI Bradford, Jennie from SI Leeds, and Judith from SI Wakefield joined us for a delicious vegetarian curry.Past Presidents’ Dinner
On March 31st 17 past presidents enjoyed a fun and friendship evening at Healds Hall, with excellent food and very good company. A toast was made to absent friends.March Events
A group of members attended the awards presentation at Kirklees College to two students for their artwork in relation to International Women’s Day and 16 days of Activism.
A no frills Coffee Morning hosted by Pat raised £115.00 for the request by SI Yorkshire President Lindsay for funds for Mary’s Meals.
At the business meeting President June presented SIY IPP Linda Davis with a Bright Future badge in recognition of her being SI Yorkshire President 2020-2021.
A concert by the U3A Choir on March 11th raised £300 for the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.
A Silent Auction and supper on Friday 18th March raised over £500 for the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice
On the 24th Bobbie Millar of Quarry Arts spoke about Lithophones – an early type of musical instrument (similar to a xylophone) made with bars of stone/rock. Different types and sizes making different musical notes.
February Activities
The second Mirfield Friendship Café of the year was very well attended by many of our regulars and a number of new faces, it was also nice to welcome some club members who hadn’t been able to come previously.
Keith Lister was the speaker on February 24th on ‘Water and Wells through the ages’, an illustrated talk with many little known facts about water.
Speaker meeting – January 27
Stuart Hartley spoke about Women of Yorkshire featuring well known figures from many walks of life and some not as well known but equally interesting.
At the end of the meeting the chain of office was passed from outgoing President Christine to incoming President June, the final changeover of the four presidents for this year. IPP Christine was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers.
Christmas Times
On December 2nd members attended the Retired Christmas Lunch at The Seed Room, Overton. It was good to meet up and socialise with everyone.
The Carol Service was held at St Paul’s Church, Hanging Heaton attended by members, friends, SI Yorkshire President Lindsay and the Mayor of Kirklees.
November Events
The Curry Club returned for the first time since lockdown, 9 members from Dewsbury, Halifax and Wakefield enjoyed a fantastic vegetarian meal at Prashad in Drighlington. We took the opportunity to present Prashad with the Toilet Twinning plaque which had been organised before lockdown.
The November Mirfield Friendship Cafe was once again well attended, with even more new faces than the previous cafe.
At the business meeting Honorary membership was conferred on two members – Kathleen Thornton who extended her presidential year to two years and steered the club through the unknown times of Covid: also Linda Davis who was SI Yorkshire President through a disrupted Covid year.
President Christine supported by several club members attended the Remembrance Parade in Mirfield, a wreath was laid by President Christine and PA Jan.
Saving Trees – THE FIRST ACTION taken by #Soroptimists in 1921 in Oakland, California was to “Save the Redwoods”. 100 years later members of Dewsbury Soroptimists and Wakefield Soroptimists planted two Redwoods at Dewsbury Country Park. Thank you to Pete and his team for sourcing the redwoods and giving us the opportunity to ‘Plant Trees for a Brilliant Future’.
Members attended the Green Flag ceremony at Crow Nest Park, Debbie and Pat pictured with the flag.
On Thursday 25th November Debbie kindly hosted a coffee morning and scarf and handbag sale, £287.00 was raised at the event.
Items were purchased to fill pamper bags and cleaning equipment bags for 13 families in the Kirklees Women’s Refuge.
The speaker meeting was action packed with the unexpected bonus of two speakers! Alice Armitage spoke about her marketing job with Damart and involvement with Miss Yorkshire and other contests which all help her to support various charities including Wakefield Hospice. Andrew Thwaite, Master Chocolatier demonstrated his skills along with trays of samples. Members were able to purchase goods with Christmas in mind.
October Activities
The Three Degrees delivered three bin liners full of empty blister packs to Superdrug in Wakefield. Readers, we must point out that we have been collecting them for over 18 months!!
A coffee morning was held at June’s home in aid of The Forget Me Not Hospice, on sale were handmade craft items, cakes and jams & pickles. £486.00 was raised. A beautiful autumn quilt made by Christine’s Charismatic Quilters group was given to Georgia from the Forget me not Children’s Hospice. Thank you to Georgia from the charity for coming along to support us.
The October speaker was Peter Banks who gave an illustrated talk on the creation and maintenance of Dewsbury Country Park.
President Pat handed the chain over to the third team of President Christine and PA Jan Hunter.
Speaker Meeting – September 23rd
Members enjoyed an illustrated talk by Matthew Beynon-Tullet PR & Communications of
White Knights, Yorkshire Blood Bikes who spoke about the work of the Blood Bikers.
Nearly New Members’ Evening
SI Dewsbury’s Membership team hosted a ‘ Nearly New Member’s evening on September 22nd at Heath Cottage Hotel where everyone enjoyed a two course evening meal.
Supporting newer members regarding advice and information on our organisation during the Covid Pandemic has been difficult. Rising to this challenge we were delighted to welcome Jane Glendinning , SI Yorkshire’s Regional Membership officer as our guest speaker. Jane’s talk explained how our club at a local level linked with the Regional, National and International organisation.
This friendly, informative fun filled evening was a great success.
Programme Action recognition
The Johanna Raffan programme Action awards were announced at the RCM on Saturday September 18th. The President’s award went to a Club that was committed to submitting their Programme Focus Reports and for the variety of their work. As SIY Programme Officers Lindsay and Susie have reiterated “you’ve got to be in it to win it!” S I Dewsbury were the worthy winners this year and President Linda was quite rightly excluded from the decision making process.
The award was presented to Pat by Lindsay and President Linda
Autumn Lunch & Fair
Sunday September 12th saw members and friends meet for a beautiful lunch with sumptuous desserts served socially distanced by Carol’s team of cooks and servers. Books and bric a brac/crafts etc along with a good raffle raised over 750.00 for the Forget me Not Children’s Hospice.
Teddies for Zarach
On August 26th Teddies invaded Crow Nest Park to raise funds for Zarach along with a cakes and refreshment stall and used books. The toy tombola and stalls raised 215.00 with a follow on event planned to rehome the rest.
Ladies Day – York Races
This year 14 members and friends attended Ladies Day at York on August 19th. We had a fabulous day, no big wins though. President Pat joined us this year. Bubbles to start with, followed by a delicious lunch. Many thanks to Eileen H, Carol A and Kathleen for organising a super day. Here’s to next year.
Charter Lunch – August 15th
Having had to miss our Charter Lunch last year, everyone was looking forward to celebrating at last, and we were not disappointed. The four Presidents – Jackie, June, Pat and Christine pictured above with SIY President Linda. The event was held at Healds Hall where Freda Pickard and Kathleen Thornton received their 45 years Long Service Award, Jane Macaulay 30 years and Julie Thompson 25 years, presented by Yorkshire President Linda Davis who is also a member of Dewsbury.
Christine’s 90th Party
Celebrating Yorkshire Day
It was celebrations all round, SI Yorkshire President Linda’s first face-to-face event, 85 years of SI Yorkshire and, of course, Yorkshire Day. SI Dewsbury and SI Yorkshire members enjoyed afternoon tea on the river in York.
Faith Supper – July 22nd
Members were able to meet in person, many for the first time in many months for a Faith Supper and the handover of the chain from President Jackie to President Pat. Jackie added the following words:
“It was really lovely to see 31 club members in person last evening – all enjoying a social gathering with lots of chattering. Thank you all for coming. It certainly made the end of my Presidency a little more tangible than it has been for meetings. Although we would have been lost without zoom, it can never replace live interaction.
Special thanks to the Events Team for organising the social. As well as conversing, eating and drinking together the raffle raised £92 for the Forget Me Not Hospice. This makes a good start and hopefully future events during this year will raise a respectable amount to help their ailing funding.”
SIGBI Day of Action
19 members of Dewsbury Soroptimists, one WI member and one Soroptidog celebrated the SIGBI Day of Action 2021 on July 17th with a BYC (Bring Your own Coffee) impromptu coffee morning in Crow Nest Park, raising awareness of climate change.
Trip to Northumberland – July 11-14
Twelve Dewsbury members and friends enjoyed a coach trip to Northumberland, visiting Alnwick Garden, Lindisfarne and Bamburgh. Showers were dodged on Monday followed by brighter weather.
Everyone agreed it was good to meet up with friends and socialise again after the last year.
June Activities
On June 10th John Miles a member of Rotary Club of Guildford spoke about the work of Global Sight Solutions, the charity enable eye clinics to be established and maintained in India.
Whaley’s Opticians in Batley were delighted with 50 pairs of spectacles which members had collected over the last few months, they collect for the Lions Club of Morley for SightFirst. Lions ‘Recycle for Sight’ is a Lions project which collects unwanted spectacles and recycles them for re-distribution to people who would not otherwise have access to spectacles.
Thank you to Damon Sugden of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission the May Speaker for a very enlightening talk, members will certainly be visiting the Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate.
With help from Bradford Soroptimists and Gawthorpe & Ossett WI, ‘100 bras for 100 girls’ were donated to Smalls for All
May Matters
Every month, subject to lockdown rules, members living in the Ossett area have a get together and collect for The Resource Food Bank in Ossett.
In response to a plea from the West Yorkshire Hardship Project, members dug deep and donated £70.00 to purchase much needed cans for the food bank.
Speaker Meeting – May 27th
Georgia Lane from the Forget me not Trust gave a zoom presentation to members about the work of the hospice based in Huddersfield. The hospice is the Presidents’ Charity for the next year.
AGM and President’s Handover
President Jackie then conducted the rest of the business of the AGM.
The president’s chain had been handed over to the four president elects the previous weekend. President Kathleen presented flowers to Jackie, Pat, Christine & June (pictured L-R)