Charity Shop Christmas Shop Window Competition – Harrogate District Results
Charity Shop Christmas Shop Window Competition – Harrogate District 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 6th of December. The Mayor of Knaresborough, Cllr.Hannah Gostlow with Club President, Pat Shore MBE, presented the Award Certificates. The judging took place in three zones. Harrogate Town; Ripon with Boroughbridge and Knaresborough with Starbeck and Bilton. THE criteria used is Innovation, Impact and Spirit of Christmas. The Soroptimist Cup is awarded to the overall winner. This year’s winner of the Soroptimist Cup is Sue Ryder Charity Shop in Knaresborough. Their window display was an eye-catching mannequin with a Christmas tree skirt. The judging was very close this year. We are always amazed at what the managers and volunteers achieve with limited resources. Zone Winner – Harrogate Town Gold Award: Shelter, Commercial Street Silver Award: Yorkshire Cancer
90th Anniversary’s Charter Lunch
90th Anniversary’s Charter Lunch
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The Club, one of the oldest Clubs in Yorkshire Region, celebrated its 90th year since being chartered with a lunch. We were honoured to welcome the King’s representative, the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire. Johanna Ropner. Also, Soroptimist International President Maureen Maguire, SI Great Britain and Ireland President Cathy Cottridge and SI Yorkshire Region President Jane Glendinning. We were delighted that our Friendship links from Arlon in Belgium and Milford Haven in Wales also joined us. Over 100 people attended. With Club Presidents from all over Yorkshire. The event, held at the Masonic Hall provided a wonderful opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. Club member Lesley Berry caught the essence of the weekend with her poem. Followed by a sing a long with songs from every decade with Jonathan Hills at the piano and President Pat’s granddaughter singing ‘To make you feel
90th Charter Weekend – What a fantastic time on Saturday
90th Charter Weekend – What a fantastic time on Saturday
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What a wonderful weekend we had on 14-15th October. It started out with the Premier of our specially commission film about the history of the Club over the last 90 yrs. This took place while we ate afternoon tea at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate. Soroptimist International President Maureen Maguire and Soroptimist International President of Great Britain and Ireland Cathy Cottridge honoured us with their presence. Also, Members from our friendship links from Arlon in Belgium and Milford Haven in Wales. We then rocked the night away to the music of Last Orders at the Masonic Hall in Harrogate. And, finally we celebrated our Charter Lunch on Sunday with over 100 guests on in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire. A very memorable weekend. Premier of Film and Book to Celebrate 90th Charter Anniversary The Crown Hotel in Harrogate provided the perfect
Mary Fisher MBE JP- A sister Soroptimist too
Mary Fisher MBE JP- A sister Soroptimist too
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The Club is celebrating its 90th year since we were chartered in 1933. Our Club archivists, Rachel, Judith and Nicola are busy going through our archives held at County Hall in Northallerton. We have many photos but some with no names or dates. Lesley, our Communication team leader posted photos on the Historical Harrogate and District Facebook page. Val Hills, recognised one of the faces and thought it may be Mary Fisher. In March we spoke about Forgotten Women. This included Mary Fisher MBE JP. Val, has been doing a lot of work about Mary the first lady mayor of Harrogate. It is our quest for her to be recognised with a Brown plaque. Could this be her, was she a Soroptimist or just visiting the Club? Mary’s granddaughter, Anne, contacted the Club after the an article about Mary appeared in the Harrogate Advertiser
We did it? Ninety five Toilets Twinned – Flushing away Poverty
We did it? Ninety five Toilets Twinned – Flushing away Poverty
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Club members celebrated the end of their Toilet Twinning project having twinned a total of 95 toilets in low-income countries across the world. A fantastic achievement as we also celebrate our 90th Charter Year. 95 Toilets Twinned. A fantastic result for our project. Why did we do it? Working with Toilet Twinning, part of the charity Tear Fund, we raised funds to build toilets in communities where there was no access to any form of toilet. This means that people have to poo in fields or in the bush. Lack of sanitation and poor hygiene is a major cause of illness and death in young children. And, women and girls are especially vulnerable to sexual assault when they go to the toilet in the open. They also risk being attacked or bitten by snakes, particularly if their culture dictates that they must only go out at night.
Club welcomes new President Pat Shore MBE and celebrates long service
Club welcomes new President Pat Shore MBE and celebrates long service
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It was a full house at the Club’s Annual General meeting in April at the Crown Hotel. We were delighted to welcome Soroptimist International of Yorkshire President Jane Glendenning. The AGM captured all the Club activity over the last year and celebrated a very successful year. Outgoing President Val Hills then passed the chain of office to Pat Shore MBE. President Pat will lead the Club through our special anniversary as we celebrate our 90th year. We also celebrated the long service of two of our Club members, Rachel Richardson and Hilary Waddington. Both have given great service to the Club and Soroptimism over the last 35 years. President Jane, presented their certificates. This year has seen us also form two new friendship links with SI Wellington in New Zealand and SI Conegliano Vittorio Veneto in Italy. We are looking forward to a fabulous year
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