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Fran Taylor with Making a Difference Award
Making a Difference – The Club honours Fran Taylor and the Harrogate Scrubbers

Making a Difference – The Club honours Fran Taylor and the Harrogate Scrubbers

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  Fran Taylor with Making a Difference Award Some people talk about ‘Making a Difference’ and others get on and do it. The shortage of scrubs for NHS staff who don’t normally wear them became a national issue as the Covid -19 virus took its toll. Fran Taylor recognised the need to do something and set up a Facebook page, Harrogate Scrubbers,  asking for others to support her sew scrubs for the Harrogate Hospital. Within 24 hours 200 people had signed up and more than £4500 had been raised. Within 5 weeks there was an army of 800 volunteers who were willing to sew, cut out, organise and deliver. We were delighted to welcome Fran  as our guest speaker at our Zoom meeting  to find out more about Fran’s fantastic achievement.  Club members also got the chance to see the Engraved silver photo-frame presented to

Smart Works – Helping Women into work

Smart Works – Helping Women into work

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Getting a job is never easy and with rising unemployment is becoming more difficult. Just getting an interview is a challenge. First impressions count.   Smart Works comes to the aid of unemployed women. To tell us more, Helen Oldham, chair of Smart Works Leeds, gave us an insight into how Smart Works Empowers Women to Succeed.             Smart Works,  a UK charity provides high quality interview clothes and interview training to unemployed women in need. It provides women with a work outfit from stock of high-quality clothes and accessories. With styling advice and interview training, the support helps women feel more confident and increases their chances of securing a job. Half the women have previously been unsuccessful in over 20 applications. A third have been turned down from over 50 jobs. All are suffering from a lack of confidence in their

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.

The Big Freeze 1947 – The Big Freeze

The Big Freeze 1947 – The Big Freeze

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Soroptimist International of Harrogate & District President Nicola Harding and member Judith Webb, welcomed David Davies to speak on ‘The Big Freeze of 1947’. David took us back to the aftermath of World War II in the United Kingdom with a really vivid insight into the hardships which faced the country as it continued to suffer chronic shortages of food and materials. There were serious crises affecting food, housing, fuel and sterling. Starting in 1946, the severe coal shortage had really set the scene – the main problem being our reliance on coal for 93% for all power needs. There were then protracted national strikes by the miners, pending nationalisation. Also in early January 1947 there was a national transport strike to add to the nation’s problems. Then on 23rd January 1947, the winter’s ‘Big Freeze’ really started, with much snow having already fallen. For