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Forgotten Women – Alderman Mary Fisher MBE JP 1884-1972

Forgotten Women – Alderman Mary Fisher MBE JP 1884-1972

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On this year’s International Women’s Day the  Club celebrated the lives of local Women who were trail blazers. This included our First Club President Dr Kathleen Rutherford and Dr Laura Veale the First Woman from Yorkshire to qualify as a Doctor.  We also celebrated the life of Alderman Mary Fisher, the First woman to become  Mayor of Harrogate in 1949.  Dr Kathleen and Dr Laura are both celebrated with Harrogate Civic Society plaques. Mary Fisher has a local Care Home named after her. Though the death of this ‘much beloved’ woman made  front page news in the local papers  in 1972 she is now all but forgotten. MARY FISHER  MBE JP Who was Mary Fisher MBE JP? It was pure chance, whilst waiting for a funeral of a Club member that Club President Val noticed a grave at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate. She  had never heard

President’s Blog February/March

President’s Blog February/March

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It’s great that our regular meetings have started again. The first meeting in February focused on Programme Action.  It was an excellent meeting organised by Club Programme Action Officers’ Christine A and Paula. The PowerPoint presentation really encapsulated all that we do.  It is available on YouTube  https://youtu.be/YQhqoqdNr_M  It’s already had 54  views and is also on our Face Book  page @Soroptimist80.  I recommend you watch it if you haven’t seen it.  It’s also an excellent way of  sharing  ‘What do we do?’ Our current projects, Dementia Forward and Toilet Twinning will be finishing in September so  this was followed by an opportunity to think about what our future projects may be.  There was a great buzz to the evening. Lots of interaction and discussion. Turkey/Syrian Earthquake I am sure, like me, many of you were shocked of the scale and loss of life and

The Great Big Green Week

The Great Big Green Week

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  How do we address Climate Change and contribute to #CarbonZero? What is our Parliament doing? These are the questions we posed to Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough   Club members welcomed Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones to their February meeting. It is #GreatBigGreenWeek and Andrew was asked to speak about how Parliament is tackling #climatechange and #zerocarbon.  We celebrated the Great Big Green Week by wearing green and  giving Andrew a Green knitted heart. The Government aim is to reach zero carbon by 2050. Government departments have to demonstrate how this will be achieved. All parties are signed up to tackling Climate change and there is much cross party working. The country now produces 40% of our energy from renewable resources. But change will take time and money. For instance there are 40 million homes with gas boilers! Members raised concerns

President Blog – November

President Blog – November

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Presidents Report – November/December Where has this year gone? And yet is seems ages ago since we made our first tentative steps back to normality.  Last year we met on the 1st of December and awarded the Charity Shop Christmas Window winners at the Crown Hotel. A week later, I had to make the presentation to the Wetherby Winner’s in the street as restrictions were reintroduced due to the spread of covid. Covid is still a factor but is now part of our everyday lives. I hope all of you who have recently had covid have made a good recovery. Remembrance Sunday 13 November November has been another very busy month.  There is so much going on in the Club. On the 13th of November I represented the Club at the Harrogate Cenotaph to lay a wreath at the Remembrance Service.  It is always a

President’s Blog – December/January 2023

President’s Blog – December/January 2023

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President’s Report – December/January 2023 Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you all  had a Happy and Joyful Christmas? The twelve days of Christmas will be over by the time we meet again. It takes a while before we feel the benefit of the lengthening days.  But - the days are getting longer. A big thank you for the Christmas Cards and to those of you who donated in lieu of Christmas Cards. Jennifer will update me in the next couple of days and I will be writing out to thank those individuals who made donations. The money will help the Food Banks who are under a lot of pressure as the cost of living bites. Charity Shop Winners I was so pleased that so many of you were able to attend for the presentation to the winners of the Harrogate District
Charity Shop Window Competition – The Results

Charity Shop Window Competition – The Results

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Harrogate and District Soroptimist were delighted to welcome the award winners of the annual Charity Shop Christmas Window Competition to their meeting at the Crown Hotel on the 7th December.  The Deputy Mayor of Harrogate Borough, Cllr. Robert Windass  and Club President Val Hills, presented the Award Certificates and the Soroptimist Cup to the overall winner. The judging took place in three zones.  Harrogate Town; Ripon with Boroughbridge and Knaresborough with Starbeck and Bilton. This year the judges were joined by Cllr Mark Flood, the deputy Mayor of Knaresborough  and Linda Birkinshaw a local artist from Ripon. This year’s winner of the Soroptimist Cup is Shelter, Harrogate. Zone Winners –  Harrogate Town Gold Award: ​​Shelter, Commercial Street Silver Award: ​​Martin House Hospice Shop, Commercial Street Highly Commended. ​Saint Michael’s Hospice Shop, Cold Bath Road, Cancer Research UK, Oxford Street and Yorkshire Cancer Research, Oxford Street

President’s Blog – September

President’s Blog – September

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Welcome to my September/ October Blog, Cost of Living Crisis Thank you to Club Members who’ve donate blankets/throws/ hot water bottles, flasks and hats for the Harrogate District Food Bank. I know this will help make a difference. People are already struggling to get by and though the energy cap will help, some of them will still have to make a choice between heat and eat. 5 Ladies and a bus call Bertha I know that many of us where shocked at the death of HM The Queen on the 8th September. The news had just been released as I travelled with Jennifer to the Knaresborough Library to listen to Sue Williams reading from her newly published book. There was a good Soroptimist turn out and it was an enjoyable evening. We are looking forward to the next instalment. A few of us raised our

President Blog – Summer

President Blog – Summer

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Welcome back. Meetings start again on 7th September.  I hope everyone has enjoyed summer despite the heat that at times felt overwhelming. The Climate certainly seems to be changing. We may not of met during August but we certainly have been busy. If you are not a member and are interested in finding out more about our Club and organisation  email sihandd@hotmail.co.uk Toilet Twinning in Wetherby                                 On the 25th July and I was delighted to meet the Mayor  of Wetherby with Sue Williams and Heather Shipman to present the toilet twinning certificates that will be displayed in the public toilets at the town hall. We had great press coverage in the local paper too.  A great start to our commitment to see Wetherby become a Toilet Twinned Town. Dementia

President’s Blog – March

President’s Blog – March

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Storm clouds gathered physically and metaphysically at the beginning of March. For the world, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine has led to the biggest migration of people since the Second World War; in the UK, as over a million trees were blown down in the successive storms; and personally, as a bout of Covid meant that I was unable to chair the March business meeting.  Thank you, President Elect Pat, for deputising for me. The world has changed. The last two years have changed the way we live our lives as we return to the ‘new normal’ as the pandemic continues.  The war in Ukraine has woken many of us to how quickly things can change from stability to absolute horror. I know that our Soroptimist sisters, especially in Poland but also other countries too are supporting the millions of refugees, mostly women and children