Club Activities 2022-24

Award

At the SI Yorkshire Programme Action Awards, SI Dewsbury and District received an award for their recycling and partnerships.

Anything and everything is recycled.

At the September RCM Lindsay Green presented the award in recognition of their ongoing recycling work for Programme Action.

Teddy tombola

A Teddy Tombola at Thornhill Dog Show on September 2nd raised £150 for Ravenshall School to round off a busy summer

Ladies day at York Races – August24th

Members of Dewsbury Soroptimists and friends had their annual pilgrimage to the races. A great day with fun, Friendship, bubbles and delicious food. We even had a few winners.

Many thanks to Carol, Eileen and Kathleen for all their hard work.

Zarach fundraiser

On August 6th Dewsbury Soroptimists and St John’s Masonic Lodge held a joint fund raiser for Zarach. “Every head a bed”. £500 was raised whilst having food, drink, a raffle and games.

SIGBI Convention – July 26-29th

Seven Dewsbury members joined the Yorkshire exodus to Dublin for the SIGBI Convention.

They met up with their longstanding friendship link SI Whittier from the USA especially their contact Elizabeth Camp (in blue) – pictured with members.

Eileen & Kathleen organised a meal for the Dewsbury members & Jean from SI Halifax with the Americans

Orange Cafés

The 25th July was at Seeds Cafe and the 25th August at Mirfield Garden Centre.

SIGBI Day of Action – July 15th

SIGBI Day of Action on July 17th saw members and friends doing a litter pick at Dewsbury Country Park, followed by lunch at Mirfield Garden Centre.

Members attended Ossett Gala on July 8th with a Bag & Scarf Sale raising £130 for Charity funds

Orange Café – May 25th

Our first Orange Cafe held at Tesco in Batley: The #UNiTE campaign has proclaimed the 25th of each month as #orangeday.
Soroptimist International of Dewsbury & District held their first #orangecafe at Tesco Extra, to raise awareness and take action to #EndViolenceAgainstWomen. Watch out for an #orangecafe near you.

Party fit for a King

Members and guests enjoyed a sumptuous Coronation Party Lunch at St Paul’s Church Hall on Bank Holiday Monday May 8th. It was rounded off with entertainment of Heads & Tails with Jane W and a Royal themed quiz.

Embracing Equity

Dewsbury and Wakefield celebrated International Women’s Day at a quiz and Afternoon Tea held by SI Garforth raising over £900 for Zarach , tree planting in Gawthorpe and attending a lunch held by Ossett Rotary on March 5th. The Mirfield ‘Girls’ joined in too while collecting for Ukraine at their meet up.

A good time was had by all at Brodsworth Hall to see the snowdrop displays and explore the servants quarters in the

Hall. There were items in their kitchen that we could all remember using!!

Members lined up for the camera demonstrating the #EmbraceEquity pose.

January events

Our Speaker on Thursday 26th January was Kelly Williams @thehappybenchproject and @theyellowvanoflove. She is a happiness coach who sold her home, bought a yellow van, and travels the country spreading a little sunshine.

28 kgs of empty blister packs, which would have filled 3 wheelie bins, were delivered to Superdrug in Wakefield. Thank you to all our partners who help us collect.

Autumn Events

A Coffee morning on October 20th raised 271.25 for the Presidents’ charity of the local refuge. The next event in November of a Christmas Food & Wine tasting raised another 207.00 for the charity.

A group of members accompanied the Presidents to the Remembrance Sunday event in Mirfield on November 13th.

Elaine and Jane from Wakefield Samaritans were the November speakers. They gave a brief history of the organisation and the formation of the Wakefield group and explained about the various types of help they give and outreach work in local prisons.

On November 29th 13 members enjoyed a Christmas Lunch at the Seed Room at Overton

The Friendship Café attended Mirfield Library on the first Friday of each month.

The annual Carol Service on December 4th was held at St Paul’s Hanging Heaton led by member Reverend Kate Currie, attended by members, friends and SI Yorkshire President Jane. The collection was to support the SI International President’s Charity, ‘Opening doors for a bright future’ and St Paul’s Church.

The December business meeting was a short session followed by a celebratory cake and drinks for member Carole’s big birthday.

On Monday 19th December members met for an evening Christmas Meal at Ego at Horbury.

September Activities

The month ended and started with Zarach on the 22nd September as two speakers gave a presentation about the work of Zarach – ‘Zarach Eat Sleep Learn’. Presidents Debbie and Linda presented June (and Roy) with a rose tree and flowers for their recent Diamond Wedding. After the meeting everyone shared the Diamond wedding cake and drinks in the conservatory.

Members enjoyed an outing to the National Arboretum on September 15th. Some explored with a ride on the train around the site followed by lunch.

A good time was had by all. Presidents Debbie and Linda pictured with the Women’s Land Army and Lumber Jill’s sculpture.

Ladies Day at York Races – August 18th

The annual visit to York Races was the usual successful day, excellent food, good company and no fortunes made or lost!

SID’s 80th Anniversary – July 22-24

The weekend began with a Dinner at Dewsbury & District Golf Club, there was a 1940s theme with music, a quiz and the ever popular Nick it back raffle.

The following day members enjoyed a coach trip to Kirkby Lonsdale, despite intermittent light showers a good time was had by all. Two groups explored the area with a guided walk while the rest browsed the many shops, tea rooms/cafés and very popular ice cream seller.

The highlight of the weekend on Sunday was the Charter Lunch at Heald’s Hall, guests included SIGBI President Elect Ruth Healey and SIY President Lindsay Green. An excellent lunch was enjoyed, long service awards presented to Eileen Hartley and Sue Glover then Ruth Healey spoke about SIGBI and her personal involvement in soroptimism.

July Activities

To celebrate the #SIGBI Day of Action, a few hardy members braved one of the hottest days of the year to do a litter pick in Crow Nest Park, Dewsbury.

7th July. Our latest outing curry club

Members of Bradford, Selby, and Wakefield joined us for a delicious curry at the Kashmiri Aroma in Wakefield. We had lots of fun and laughter and everyone is looking forward to the next one.

5th July, Almost fourteen kilos of empty medicine blister packs were delivered to Superdrug in Wakefield for recycling.

Three kilos of natural cork bottle stoppers were delivered to Majestic Wines in Wakefield, the corks are given to the Eden Project and they use them for enriching soils and protecting roots.

Thank you to Clare @ Crow Nest Park, Dewsbury Masons, Fresh Hair Design, KC Fitness, Trinity Belles WI, and Trinity Church for their efforts in partnering with Dewsbury Soroptimists.

Jubilant June

Our June speaker was Becky Houlding from Transformers North. Transformers North is a social enterprise whose purpose is to engage & empower vulnerable adults by providing training & opportunities to apply new skills & create amazing spaces. They do amazing work in the community transforming eyesores into lovely community spaces, and so much more. We then raised a glass to Eileen Gaunt’s forthcoming 80th birthday, and of course, had cake!

Four bags of milk bottle tops were delivered to Cawthorne Village Tea Room for the Yorkshire Charity Bottle Top Collection. The milk bottle tops are sent to Van Werven in Selby for recycling and they give a donation to Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Back to Nature

Members and friends explored the delights of Dewsbury Country Park, ably guided by Linda and Angela. They then joined other Dewsbury members for afternoon tea at Whiteley’s Garden Centre.

Jubilee Day – June 2nd

President Pat hosted a Jubilee Afternoon tea on a glorious summer afternoon. The PAs from the previous year were presented with Soroptimist rose bushes by the IPPs.

Speaker meeting – May 26th

Shaffia Khatum was the speaker for May, from Connected Housing and the Women’s Refuge. She told members about how the refuge helps women to claim benefits and apply for rehousing with the local authorities. A few anonymous case studies were included as examples.

The first assignment of the 2022/23 Presidents and Eileen, was to attend an open Day & Exhibition at the Baitul Atta Mosque. They received a very warm welcome and met friends old and new and enjoyed wonderful samosas.

AGM – April 28th

At the AGM the three new Presidents were installed and flowers presented to the outgoing team of Jackie, Pat, Chris and June by Debbie, Linda and Pat who also received flowers from the outgoing team. Debbie was presented with the President’s chain and Pat presented with the Past President’s badge previously owned by Barbara.

The new team then went through their programme of events and activities for the next year and their charity will be the Refuge.