Club member Sue Slocombe presents a cheque for £66 to the Bilton and Woodfield Community Library’s chair, Greta Knight. The money will be used to purchase craft materials for play to encourage young children and their families to use the library facilities. This is part of a Club initiative to support local libraries and improve literacy.
Members of Soroptimist International of Harrogate and District joined the march on 6 February to recognise the important role the women’s suffrage movement played in gaining the right for women to vote in 1918 – though it would be another 10 years before all women over the age of 21 were able to vote in all elections. Since then women have taken an active role in the House of Commons although it took until 1958 for women to be allowed to sit in the House of Lords. We have had two female Prime Ministers, and hard fought legislation has been passed that has given women equal rights in the workplace and in the home. Following the first world war, many women held important jobs for the first time and started to access professional and business education. Clubs formed exclusively for women throughout the world, enabled
Harrogate & District Soroptimists have raised over £700 towards the Meru Women’s Garden Project in Kenya, from a raffle of three magnificent hand made patchwork quilts. The Club is now well on target to raise the £3000 by the end 2018 to enable, empower and educate women and girls in Meru, Kenya. The Meru Women’s Garden project is a 3 year Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) project, launched on International Women’s Day on the 8 March 2016 in partnership with Child.org. The project aims to develop the well being and status of women living in Meru by helping them to develop the land (garden) around their houses, so that they can both feed themselves better and have additional vegetables, fruit and herbs to sell to provide an income. . This is combined with an education programme for girls to reduce the rate of
Soroptimist International of Harrogate and District are very proud that our Honorary Member and Immediate Past President Pat Shore, one of our most active and committed members has been named in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list and awarded an MBE for service to the Community. Congratulations Pat – you really have helped make a difference to the lives of others through your work in the Community, particularly the CAB, to Soroptimist International at Club, Region and Federation Level and to Nursing and patient care.
It was a very cold day with the forecast for snow but that didn’t deter Club members from setting up their stall at the Wetherby Lions Dickensian Christmas Market. Nor did it deter the families who turned out to see Father Christmas and the reindeer. The children hoped to win Chris the moose by guessing his name. The chocolate oranges with their pudding, snow man and Santa hat covers sold out and we raised £300 for Club charities on the stall and over £100 from pre orders of chocolate orange covers (well done champion knitter Maureen Ingleton). Our stall looked very Christmassy too.
New government funding plans threaten to dismantle our life-saving national network of refuges and put the lives of women and children trying to escape domestic abuse at risk. A Women’s Aid survey of refuge services showed that the proposed new model of funding could force over half of refuges responding to close or reduce their provision – resulting in 4000 more women and children turned away from the lifesaving services they desperately need. SIGN THE PETITION
Club members along with Soroptimists from throughout Yorkshire wore something orange on 25 November at the start of the United Nations 16 Days of Action for the Elimination of violence against women and girls and its mission to ‘Orange the World’. The day coincided with the Regional Council Meeting held in Barnsley where newly elected Yorkshire President Chris Clark welcomed over 80 members from the 23 Yorkshire Clubs. The Yorkshire President’s theme for this year is ‘Power of the Second Chance’ with Yorkshire Clubs raising awareness and supporting women and girls affected by violence. The Lord Mayor of Sheffield Anne Murphy joined members for lunch. Soroptimist International is a worldwide women’s voluntary organisation working to Educate, Enable and Empower women and girls locally and globally. New members are welcome. #16days
President Nicola Harding and other Club members took part in Remembrance Services across Harrogate, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Wetherby on Remembrance Sunday. It was a day of reflection and a reminder of the consequences of war – and why we as Soroptimists strive for creating peaceful societies. President Nicola attended the memorial service at Harrogate Cenotaph and joined the civic party to lay a wreath on behalf of Soroptimist International. The Civic party then moved to Stonefall Cemetery for a service of remembrance at the Commonwealth War Graves where over 1000 service men and women are buried. It was a very moving ceremony organised by the Harrogate Brigantes Rotary Club. Many of the young men who lie at Stonefall are from Canada and over 100 are from Australia and New Zealand – so far from home. We will not forget them or the
PHOTO: left to right: Sandra Frier (a member of SI Harrogate & District); Beverley Harrison, (Harrogate Hospital Community Charity), Andrew Cundiff, Senior Charge Nurse, Harrogate Hospital Dialysis Unit; Maureen Ingleton and President Nicola Harding, SI Harrogate & District. DIDN’T SHE DO WELL! – Maureen Ingleton, a member of the Harrogate & District Soroptimists, entered the Great North Run, to raise funds for one of President Nicola Harding chosen charities, the Renal Dialysis Unit at Harrogate District Hospital. The run was on the 10 September 2017 and is the biggest half marathon in the UK and the World, with over 57,000 runners taking part. Congratulations to Maureen who walked the 13.1 miles in 2 hours 54 minutes and for raising over £700 in sponsorship money for the Dialysis Unit. The money will go towards a very much needed new commercial dishwasher. Maureen said ‘I was delighted
On Anti Slavery Day, October 18th, Harrogate Soroptimists heard from Margaret Cook the chair of the Yorkshire Region Soroptimist’s Anti Slavery Group. Margaret began by talking about the importance of raising awareness of the need to protect vulnerable women and girls from modern slavery, as many people do not realize that it is a problem in our society today. Modern day slavery includes forced marriage, domestic abuse, grooming for sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and people trafficking. We learned about some of the very successful resources that the group has created which help to get the message out, including the Loves Me Loves Me Not bookmarks. We saw a series of excellent information displays that can be used in public places and also the latest social media resources including Facebook and Instagram. The Anti Slavery group speaks to many organizations and at present is
