24th November saw SI Hertford, despite not having our organiser in chief, Anne, present but pulling strings from afar, put on yet another superb quiz night. Questions pitched at just the right level, and refreshments provided by Wodson as always very welcome at the right point in the evening. A lot of fun was had by all.
On 6th November our meeting place was somewhat disrupted by the fact that much of Hertford including our usual meeting place was taken up by filming going on in and around the town. So one of our members very kindly offered the use of her home for the showing of this film and after our usual supper at the Hertford Club, we walked to our next venue for our film show, a very informative film about the use of dance as intervention therapy. The film was commissioned to illustrate to Health Care Professionals and NHS decision makers, the power of dance when work focuses on early intervention in psychosis in young adults. The film was introduced by a practitioner on the project, followed by Q and A.
President Pam and Karin attended the Cardiff Conference. One of the best recent conferences with some very inspirational speakers. Full details of the conference can be found on the SIGBI website https://sigbi.org/cardiff2017/
A number of SI Hertford Club attended to hear from outgoing Regional President Jen and incoming Regional President Margaret. A full report can be found on the SI London Chilterns website. Pictured below is President Jen with our own President Pam, being thanked by Jen for all her work during the year for regional Programme Action.
On 26th September, Sarah Newstead, Sue Sexton, Valerie Seddon, Karin Weston and Anne Miles visited the Isabel Hospice In-patient Unit in Welwyn Garden City. The Hospice was due to reopen two days after our visit and after considerable refurbishment and is still in the middle of a building site with many houses being built round it. Cheryl Cusack who is the Community Fundraiser welcomed us and we met several other people who were fundraisers, volunteers and working within the Hospice. Our fund raising contributions are much appreciated. (We hold an annual Tea Party to raise funds, Anne kindly providing her garden for the tea party). The senior nurse, Kirsty, enthusiastically demonstrated the marvellous new mattresses-£5000 each, and Sarah acted as a patient. The mattress is designed to make the patient more comfortable and less likely to develop bedsores as well as making things easier for
Anne Miles organised this visit and was accompanied by Jenny Cobb, Jill Coggins, Pam Jones, Kate Belinis and Yvonne Squire. The group travelled by train, brilliantly executed by Anne’s meticulous planning and were greeted by Julie who gave us a short history of the building and site. The house at the front of the site is the music therapy training centre. The building which houses the therapy areas and administration office is a converted electric sub-station gifted to the charity in 1976 on the back of a concert given by ‘The Who’ at Knebworth. Patrons of the charity, Status Quo, also gave a concert at Knebworth in 1990 along with Paul McCartney, Elton John and Eric Clapton to raise funds. Other supporters include The Arsenal Foundation, and an affiliation with The Royal Albert Hall. The recently refurbishment has taken 18 months from inception to completion
On 2nd October our not so Frugal Supper was hosted very kindly by Soroptimist Jenny at her home. Much consternation as there seemed to be road closures in the vicinity, but everyone appears to have arrived home safely after the evening despite seeing wildlife in the byways of Hertfordshire that were only hinted at but never before seen. But to the business of the evening. Some 16 or so Soroptimists, friends and one Soroptimister ate extremely well for a frugal supper and a great variety of puds were supplied by members. The money raised (donations and raffle) will go towards SIGBI’s charity which is the Meru Women’s Garden Project. President Pam having that day been on the website was able to give us an up to date account of the monies raised to date, the projects that are underway and some comments from the
Twice a year SI Hertford & District help out at one of the monthly meetings of the Herts. Disability Support Group (HDSG). September is the month when not only do we provide refreshments In the form of sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee but we also provide the entertainment for the evening. We are usually complimented on the quality of our refreshments and this year was no exception.
Success! Thanks to Anne and after much perseverance the following appeared in The Mercury; The Hertfordshire Mercury From Anne Miles Soroptimist International of Hertford and District Report from our last Meeting The Hertford and District Branch of Soroptimist International welcomed Joanna Lamb to their meeting on Monday, 4th September. She gave a lively account of her work as a volunteer for WaterAid in Papua New Guinea. Through Sport, which is a very important part of the lives of the Papuan New Guinea people, she involved communities in the WaterAid WASH programme- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Netball is the largest women and girls’ participative sport but often they are discouraged from playing because of the lack of toilet facilities at the sports venues or schools. Soroptimist members work to improve the lives of women and girls locally and internationally. The Hertford Branch meet on the 1st and
On Monday 4th September we welcomed Joanna Lamb, who spoke to us about her experiences as a volunteer in Papua New Guinea, having lived in Australia for over 7 years. As she has a masters degree in water and sanitation and plays a lot of sport, Joanna found herself working with WaterAid on a project combining sanitation and sport. First, we were given an insight into Papua New Guinea, about which several members admitted knowing little. It gained independence from Australia in 1975 but has remained part of the Commonwealth and consists of a series of islands. There are several Australian ex-pats there but very few British people. Due to the distance between islands and even villages, there are over 800 different indigenous peoples and therefore languages. There is little formal employment among villagers but families all work on the land. They don’t recognise themselves
