Programme Action Archives - SI Harrogate and District

We did it? Ninety five Toilets Twinned – Flushing away Poverty

4 days ago in

Clean Water

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.

Wetherby Town Toilet Twinning Success

3 weeks ago in

Soroptimists

President Val was delighted to present the Mayor of Wetherby, Cllr Neil O’Byrne with the #toilettwinning certificate for Wetherby Town. The event took place at the Council meeting at the Town Hall. Club members Elsie, Hilary and Heather, all from Wetherby as well as representatives from Wetherby Lions were also present . The Lions twinned 10 toilets. A total of 33 toilets have now been twinned in Wetherby including those in public toilets. Val said this is a fantastic achievement. It will really make a difference to the lives of families and give safe access to clean water and sanitation. She thanked the Mayor, the Town Council and the Lions for their support. @toilet_twinning @wetherbylions.

President’s Blog March

2 months ago in

Dementia Forward

President’s Report – March 2023 At last, the days are noticeably longer, and the spring flowers are bringing back colour to the hedgerows and gardens though we had a touch of winter on the 12th when snow fell but thankfully only made a brief appearance. The crocuses made an appearance at our Memorial Tree at Stonefall. This will be my final Blog as my time as President draws to a close at the AGM. We’ve certainly being colourful this last 18 months. I have dressed in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine, red, white and blue for the Queen’s Jubilee, orange to support our 16 Days of Activism, black for our Friendship Link in New Zealand, green for the Great Big Green Week and latterly in Purple for International Women’s Day. Thank you to all of you who have been able to follow my

President’s Blog February/March

3 months ago in

EmbraceEquity

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

3 months ago in

Soroptimist

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

Soroptimist’s Stride out to support Trussell Trust Race Against Hunger

4 months ago in

Food Poverty

President Val and Club members are once against supporting the Trussell Trust Campaign to #StopUKHunger. Please follow the link above to support us. Why? 1 in 4 Children are living in poverty The Trussell Trust Food Banks handed out over 2.1 million Food Parcels in 2021-22 – a 52% increase in year on year comparison The choice between eating and heating is real Food banks are now supporting ‘working families’ who are are struggling to put sufficent food on the table. The Trussell Trust’s is able to provide the statistics that demonstrate what is happening across the UK We need to take ACTION, RAISE AWARENESS and MAKE A DIFFERENCE – too many women and children’s lives are being affected by poverty right now in the UK

Visit to Wetherby Food Bank

4 months ago in

Food Banks

So what happens at a Foodbank? President Val with Club members Hilary and Elsie found out when they went to give a cheque for £250 raised from the stall at Wetherby Christmas Market and met with Trustee and Volunteer Jim Tinsley and Manager Debbie Marriott. Wetherby District Foodbank covers a large rural area in North Yorkshire as well as parts of North Leeds and Wetherby. The food comes from individual food donations and supermarkets as well as money donations. There is a list of items to choose from to ensure a balanced diet as well as toiletries and pet food. The listed items are in English and Ukrainian. Who is using the Foodbanks? There is an increasing demand for Foodbank parcels with a 48 percentage increase in use over the year in some areas. The Wetherby District Foodbank is now opening on Saturday mornings as

President Blog – November

5 months ago in

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

5 months ago in

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

6 months ago in

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