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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

Blog – Busy August and September

Blog – Busy August and September

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Club Blog August/September August August is the only month we don’t meet formally but that didn’t stop lots of activity taking place. Two of our members, Judith and Janet,  joined a coach load of Yorkshire Soroptimist who wended their way across the Irish Sea to the Soroptimist International Convention in Dublin. Follow the link for more information about Our Voice at the United Nations The Convention takes place every 4 years and brings together all five Federations. It is also a great opportunity to meet up with our Friendship Links from all over the world. Judith and Janet met up with our Friendship Link Joan from SI Willamantic in the USA and Helen and Maddie from SI Wellington in New Zealand.  Judith, Janet along with Nicola met up with Joan and her husband again for a wonderful Afternoon Tea back in England at Goldsborough Hall.

Orange the World on 25th of Each Month – Say No to Violence Against Women and Girls

Orange the World on 25th of Each Month – Say No to Violence Against Women and Girls

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Orange the World –  25th of each month Club members met on Montpelier Hill in Harrogate on the 25th August to raise awareness about the United Nations’ UNiTE campaign to Stop the abuse of women and girls. The UNiTE campaign has proclaimed 25th of each month  as #OrangeDay.   We certainly were eye-catching in our orange Hi-Viz jackets and clothing The national picture shines a light on the magnitude of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. (source IDAS) 1.6 million women are subject to domestic abuse every year in England and Wales. 85,000 women are raped in England and Wales every year whilst prosecution rates fell to under 3%. 100,000 people in the UK are at imminent risk of being murdered or seriously injured as a result of domestic abuse every year. 130,000 children live in households where there is domestic abuse. It

Garden Party raises £250 for Local Food Banks

Garden Party raises £250 for Local Food Banks

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A little drop of rain! The inclement British summer  certainly impacted  on many  planned outdoor events. Club member Audrey’s ‘Garden Party’ ended up ‘Indoors’ when the rain came down. So, 15 Soroptimists and 2 Soroptimisters  had to squeeze into Audrey’s lounge. It was very sociable, and everyone took it in good humour and there was plenty of laughter. And, the grand sum of £250 raised for local food banks. Fantastic array of Food A fine selection of quiches, tuna, smoked salmon and salads and berries and cream with a Pimms cup and tea and coffee and small cakes provided an excellent lunch. Audrey’s great niece, Jennie, who loves baking, made cheese and sweet scones, quiche, and small cupcakes. Sue W, Lynne and Jan  gave wonderful help in preparing and setting everything up. And Audrey’s  lovely neighbour suddenly appeared with a delicious Pavlova which is in

A busy June and July for Harrogate and District Soroptimists

A busy June and July for Harrogate and District Soroptimists

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Come rain or shine – its a busy summer so far for Club members as we: raised over £750 for Young Carers; help clear Scarborough Beach of  24 Kg of litter; celebrated the success of Sharing our Skills with Rossett 6th Form College as well as enjoying our summer outing at Shepherds Purse and raising funds for Club charities with an Ascot themed garden party. Young Carers –  Flamingo Land Here We Come! The Club’s supported Young Carers with Christmas gift certificates for many years. This year, as we celebrate our 90th year, we wanted to do something special. So, on the Coronation Weekend, we held a Tombola in the Valley Garden as we raised awarenss about Voluntray Service and raised money for the Young Carers.  The weather wasn’t on our side as  the heaven’s opened all day. None the less we made £120. The

Quiz Night to raise funds for Young Carers Summer Outing

Quiz Night to raise funds for Young Carers Summer Outing

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Do you know how many young people are looking after a parent, sibling or both? It is estimated that there are about 800,000 Young Carers in the UK.  That is young people with an average age of 12, that are taking on caring duties usually done by a parent or adult! The Club has a long history of supporting Young Carers. And, in our 90th year what better way to raise funds to provide a fun day out for the Young Carers in the summer than a Fun Quiz Night. So, on a glorious sunny Friday evening in May,  together with family, friends and neighbours, we met up at the Masonic Hall to take part in a quiz to raise money for Young Carers.  Quiz Masters, Sue Williams and Sylvia Purser supported by husbands Ged and Ken set a quiz that challenged our knowledge across

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.
President’s Blog March

President’s Blog March

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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

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