SI Hallamshire is supporting the charity ‘Sheffield Women’s Aid’ this year. Janet Goodison, the Head of Operations, recently visited us to tell us about the charity and how we can be of service. President Angela presented Janet with a cheque from the Rosemary Skerritt Legacy which we awarded last year. We have also been busy collecting domestic items to support the charity.
SI Hallamshire member Jean Thompson-Banks has recently received a national award. Jean received an Outstanding Volunteer Award at the Pallative Care and End of Life Care Awards.. This is awarded to someone who demonstrates commitment, compassion and empathy for people in care, who has also made a contribution to the mission and values of the organisation. Jean has been a volunteer at Barnsley hospice since it opened 30 years ago.
Our Programme Action convenor recently visited Sheffield Children’s Hospital to present Christmas baby quilts to staff in the neonatal ward. The quilts using bright materials with Christmas designs were sewn by members of SI Hallamshire. They will be given to families of babies in the unit when they are discharged from the hospital. Members of our club have sewn quilts for babies at the Children’s Hospital for many years and we are delighted that we able to continue to this aspect of our Programme Action. The pictures show Angela presenting the baby quilts to staff and a member of staff with the quilts alongside one of the bears and elephants produced in the local community to raise funds for the The Children’s Hospital Charity.
Members of SI Hallamshire recently visited Baby Basics to take a bumper donation for Baby Basics. The donations included include two Moses baskets and other items donated by SI Sutton Coldfield – our Friendship Club. We also supported the Christmas Appeal for toys for babies and toddlers. This year Baby Basics will provide Christmas presents for 400 children. These are the children of families Baby basics have helped this year and also children who attend a nursery in Sheffield where the majority of children receive free school meals. Such has been the response to their Christmas Appeal that each child will receive two gifts. In total we took 249 items collected by SI Sutton Coldfield. SI Hallamshire also donated 39 baby items and 40 Christmas gifts. Baby Basics staff were thrilled to receive our donations and sent their thanks to everyone involved.
SI Hallamshire enjoy meeting with our Friendship Club SI Sutton Coldfield. Members recently attended their Charter Lunch. After the meal, our members were presented with three Moses baskets and a bag of items for our President’s charity Baby Basics. Baby Basics helps new Mums struggling to meet the financial and practical burden of looking after a baby by providing a Moses basket of items when the baby is born and continuing help in the months to come. Frontline health and social care workers make the referrals and work with the charity who provide the items. Bethany, the centre co-ordinator for Baby Basics, had been the guest speaker at our Charter Lunch. Members of Sutton Coldfield who joined us for the lunch were very moved and impressed by her talk and decided they would like to help. This resulted in the very generous donation
SI Hallamshire wore orange at their recent speaker meeting. We were showing our support the Orange the World campaign. This is sixteen days of activism to end gender based violence. We were pleased to welcome Isobel Hemmings and Sue Wharton to the meeting. Isobel and Sue are registered nutritionists who run Cinnamon Days. Cinnamon Days is a social enterprise company with a specialist interest in low carb diets. It helps people to lose weight and follow a more healthy diet. Isabel and Sue discussed the main food groups and outlined the importance of protein in our diets. They also discussed the need for vitamins and minerals in our diet to enable healthy functioning of our bodies. We were advised to plan our weekly menus, avoid ready meals and processed foods, cook from scratch and to eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables each week We
Members of SI Hallamshire recently went to Sheffield Theatres for a ‘behind the scenes’ visit. We were welcomed with a cup of coffee. Our guide gave us an introduction about the history of the theatres. Our tour started in the Crucible Theatre. Here, we watched a technical rehearsal. This was followed by a backstage visit. In the wardrobe department we saw the machinists making costumes for an upcoming production. Our tour guide also showed us some of the costumes from previous productions. We then visited the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse (formally The Studio). This small theatre has been renamed in honour of a theatre designer who played an important role in the history of the theatre complex. The Crucible complex is thirty years old this year. During our visit we were shown the newly refurbished reception area. Finally, we moved across to the Lyceum Theatre. We
SI Hallamshire recently welcomed a representative from the Cheese Factor in Chesterfield to their meeting. We learnt about the history of the business and the many different varieties of cheese which they sell. We were told about how the different cheeses were manufactured and also provided with samples of cheese to taste. The Cheese Factor are partners in a joint venture with Hartington’s Cheese to manufacture Stilton cheese in Derbyshire. It was an enjoyable and informative evening.
SI Hallamshire recently held their Charter Lunch at Wortley Hall. We were delighted that Yorkshire President Lindsay was able to join us for the occasion. Our guests included members of other clubs including our mother club SI Sheffield and our Friendship club SI Sutton Coldfield. Our guest speaker was Bethany Millward Centre Co-ordinator Baby Basics Sheffield who spoke to us about the work of the charity in helping new mums and their families by supplying essential baby and early years equipment and clothes. Everyone enjoyed a delicious meal, good fellowship and meeting up with fellow Soroptimists,
Some members of SI Hallamshire recently visited the Baby Basics distribution centre in Sheffield. This was a most interesting visit where we were shown the large selection of baby clothes, equipment and toiletries which are required to build a filled Moses basket. These baskets are given to new Mums who are in difficult circumstances and are unable to provide the items themselves. Young women are accepted by Baby Basics on the recommendation of midwives, health staff and social services who arrange collection of the baskets from Baby Basics and delivery to the young women. Baby Basics is our President’s chosen charity this year. We took along with us a selection of items which our members had made to donate to the charity. These included cot sheets, fabric bags, knitted blankets, matinee jackets, baby mittens and bootees. (As shown in the attached photo). One
