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Club members celebrated a total of One hundred and fifty-five years of service

Club members celebrated a total of One hundred and fifty-five years of service

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At the Club AGM held in April 2019 at our new meeting place, the Yorkshire Hotel in Harrogate, we celebrated 155 years of service to Soroptimist SIGBI. Janet Hutton. 40 years, Judith Webb, Hilary Waddington, Nicola Harding (not shown) all 30 years and Liz Stickney 25 years.   We were delighted that Soroptimist International of Yorkshire Region’s President Pat Kilbane was able to join us to present the long service certificates.

Street Angels – Guest speaker Paul Blakey MBE

Street Angels – Guest speaker Paul Blakey MBE

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Friday and Saturday nights see a transformation in many towns and cities across the UK as the pubs and clubs fill with people out for a good night out – but for some it will end in drunkenness, fights and possible sexual assault. Paul Blakey MBE witnessed what was happening in his hometown of Halifax in 2005 and decided to do something about it. Paul was the guest speaker at our September meeting. He is the pioneer founder of Street Angels and now the National Coordinator. Paul started the project in Halifax and following its amazing success has supported other towns to follow suit. Paul works closely with the Police, Churches and other voluntary organisations identifying and supporting vulnerable people of all ages who run into difficulties on out local streets. His success has also led to requests from music festivals such as the Leeds Festival to

What it means to be a Syrian Refugee.

What it means to be a Syrian Refugee.

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  What makes someone abandon their home and travel across land and sea in often dangerous and unknown conditions for a hopefully better future? Sleman Shwaish, Refugee Coordinator for the British Red Cross  gave us an insight by sharing his story as our guest speaker at the May meeting.  Sleman, Kurdish in origin is from Quamish in NE Syria.  He studied in Aleppo as an agricultural engineer but fled to the UK in 2012 after being forcibly conscripted to join the Army as the war took hold and started to ravage what had been a beautiful country. Sleman could not countenance fighting or killing his own people and had to make the difficult decision to leave his parents, his father a Pharmacist and his mother an English teacher. Sleman travelled illegally through Turkey and Iraq eventually ending up in London, where he claimed and was granted asylum.

Annual General Meeting – Welcome to new Presidents

Annual General Meeting – Welcome to new Presidents

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  Soroptimist International of Harrogate and District held our Annual General Meeting at the White Hart Hotel, Harrogate on the 18th April. We were delighted to welcome Soroptimist Internantional of Yorkshire Region President Chris Clark. Outgoing President Nicola Harding thanked Club members for all their support throughout the year and was pleased to announce that the Club had raised £2000 to help purchase a commercial dishwasher for the Renal Unit at Harrogate District hospital as well as raising £1250 for the Alzheimer’s Society and increasing the member’s  knowledge about dementia with some  becoming Dementia Friends. The Club has also achieved its target of raising £3000 for the Meru Women’s Garden Project in Kenya. Nicola then passed the President’s chain of office on to Hilary Waddington and Elsie Johnston who will be sharing the role this year.  The Club were also delighted to celebrate the long