On 4th July we were treated to an eye-opening talk by the CEO of one of our local Safer Places (Refuges).  She and her colleague explained the different sorts of abuse, not by any means restricted to physical, that one person can and does inflict on another, usually male on female but not exclusively so.  They also went into the percentage of abuse cases (10% approx.) that are actually reported and how women and children arrive at a Safer Places home.  They then talked about how these women and children are looked after within the Safer Places scheme, with the aim of helping women to become able to run their own lives.  They also outlined some individual cases where young women in their late teens ask for help and what Safer Places can do to help them.  There is a telephone no. 0845 0177668 which

Once again we had a super afternoon at Anne Miles’ home raising money for Isabel Hospice.  As you can see from the photo Anne’s garden was ready for afternoon tea; thank goodness for the gazebos as the weather was wonderful.  We had borrowed the urn, teapots and crockery, made our sandwiches, baked our scones and cakes and the raffle prizes donated.  We were ready for a lovely afternoon of meeting old friends, making new and generally enjoying the afternoon.   We raised over £360 for Isabel Hospice one of our ‘regular’ charities and had a great time thanks to Anne’s generosity in making her garden available and everyone for their help and support.

On 6th June 2011 Laura Redhead, Regional Programme Action officer, Quadrennial Project SIerra Liaison officer and Federation Executive Councillor, talked to us about Project Sierra A Family and a Future.  It was a most interesting talk and Laura explained how the project, working in partnership with Hope and Homes for Children, has 3 main components; Integrated child and family support, young mother support and children living on the streets.   She also gave us some of the statistics on life in Sierra Leone. More information is available from www.projectsierra.org.  

The first event in our new year was the celebration of the 55th anniversary of the charter of SI Hertford and District.  We met for lunch with friends and members from other clubs in the Region and Regional President Johanna and President Elect Yinka were our guests.  We had a most enjoyable lunch and were able to present President Johanna with a cheque from our Smartie tube collection.  Hopefully we shall collect more over the next weeks!

President Karin introduced Liz Jakeman who spent 25 years teaching Special Needs pupils in Hertfordshire.  She was raised in Dorset, in Piddle Trenthyde, on a mixed farm and decided to train as a PE teacher.  She had a job waiting for her at Hatfield School when she left college but needed something to do until she began teaching in September so went to work at a hospital school in Newark, working with the least able pupils, and loved the job. Liz went to Hatfield School, where she stayed for 2 years and one term, when the opportunity to teach in the farm unit, at Brandles school in Baldock, for pupils with moderate learning difficulties arose.  The council owned farm which was next door to the school, had a farmyard, greenhouse, workshop for tool making, a reprographics area and an allotment and an additional  20 acres

President Karin welcomed our speaker for the evening, Christina Rees, who is on the General Synod and was, until earlier this year, Chair of WATCH (Women and the Church).  She has regularly appeared on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day and Prayer for the Day.  She has also appeared on NewsNight, Panorama, Big Questions etc .   Christina campaigned for the ordination of women in the Anglican Church and WATCH was started in 1996 as a forum for promoting women’s ministry in the Church of England and to provide a national network and support group for women priests.  This summer she will attend the Synod where they will discuss opening up the possibility for women to become Bishops.  Many women have come into the church since 11th November 1992, when the church agreed to women priests, but ‘Religion’ is not a neutral place for women and

  Mirjam Foot, Professor Emeritus of Library and Archive Studies at UCL, told the meeting of her experiences when leading the move of the British Library to its new building at St Pancras during the 90’s.  The British Library was constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1972, to provide free access for students and ‘curious persons’ and was a successor to the library based at the British Museum  

SI Hertford & District held a WaterAid tea party on 22nd March do our bit for £75 for 75 to support Water Aid projects in Bangladesh to provide fresh water and sanitation. Along with our friends, Hertford and District Soroptimists saved their pennies and on 22nd we pooled our pennies and managed to fill a sweet jar with £28’s worth of pennies. Two more jars were filled with an assortment of coins and with other donations a marvellous total of £238.75 was raised. Our picture shows our table top display of some of  SI Hertford & District projects together with information on WaterAid.  

 June 2009 Soroptimist International of Hertford and District supported the local Isabel Hospice with a Tea at 3 Party at the home of one of their members on 17th June. Despite blustery winds and smatterings of rain, over forty Soroptimists and their friends enjoyed afternoon tea and, with donations and a raffle, raised three hundred pounds.                                                ***************************************************** Welcome to SI Hertford & District.  We meet on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month at The Hertford Club, Bull Plain, Hertford unless stated otherwise in our programme.  The meeting on the 1st Monday is a speaker meeting and the meeting on the 3rd Monday is a business meeting.