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Card with Kenilworth Castle and Christmas greetings
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

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Christmas with a difference! Who would have thought it back in March that we would be so familiar with Zoom, tiers and social distancing?   This year has not been how we ever imagined life would be.   Birthdays this year have taken on a new meaning as when ever we sing ‘Happy Birthday’ now we all think about washing our hands!   And Christmas is certainly going to be very different for us all. However, as ever, Club members have responded in their usual positive fashion.   Thinking of each other, and those women less fortunate as always. Christmas greetings Thanks to Marion, President Gill has sent out a lovely e-card to our sister Soroptimists in Midland Arden Region. ‘We at Soroptimist International Kenilworth and District hope that you will enjoy a peaceful Christmas and a healthy New Year with increasing optimism for the future.  Kindest regards from

What colour do you associate with November?

What colour do you associate with November?

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Red for Remembrance Poppies?   Orange for the UN 16 Days of Action? Despite the restrictions due to Covid, we have still managed to take part in Remembrance Day.   And of course Orange the World as part of the UN 16 Days of Action. Remembrance Day  2020 As with most things this year, Remembrance Sunday was very different.  No parades, no gatherings, hymns or prayers at the War Memorial in Kenilworth.   However, thanks to our Town Mayor, Richard Dickson, a small service was held and our wreath was laid on our behalf with the other service organisations in Kenilworth. As several of our Club members have a link with Kenilworth Lions, it seems entirely appropriate that our wreath is slightly in front of theirs! Orange the World Why orange to represent the 16 Days of Action of against gender based violence ? The campaign uses orange as

Screenshot from SIGBI Conference
How do you give the gift that keeps on giving?

How do you give the gift that keeps on giving?

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By lending with care that’s how! Our October meeting was back to Zoom format – which works really well when you’ve got such an interesting speaker as Sue Tonks.   As October is also Friendship month, we were joined by 3 members of our sister Club, SI Cardiff. Sue told us about she has given money through the charity Lend with Care and helped microfinance a variety of projects.   There is no interest on the loan, just repayment.    So when she gets her gift back, Sue then has the satisfaction of giving again to a new group.   Sue, as an established entrepreneur,  usually chooses to lend to women in business and agriculture. So what have been the highlights for Sue Tonks? To raise money in 2016, Sue undertook a 650K bike ride from Laos to Cambodia, that’s over 400 miles to you and me!   She vividly

Socially distanced picnic on Abbey Fields
Can you meet in Kenilworth during Covid?

Can you meet in Kenilworth during Covid?

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Well thanks to President Gill’s efforts, we’ve certainly done our best 🙂   In fact we’ve managed to meet twice! Picnic time for Soroptimists Ok so we didn’t take our Teddy Bears but we did take our best smiles to a picnic on August Bank Holiday Saturday.   In true Winnie the Pooh style it was rather a blustery day but that didn’t stop us from meeting up to enjoy each other’s company.   At a safe social distance of course 🙂 And a Speaker Meeting It was great to have a sense of normality and meet at our usual venue on the second Thursday of the month for a speaker meeting.   President Gill and Elaine went to great lengths working with the Holiday Inn to ensure that we were Covid safe.   Nineteen Club members listened to our speaker, Hazel Gumbs about how to recognise Coercion and Control. 

Zoom meeting
So what can we tell you about being Women of Action in July?

So what can we tell you about being Women of Action in July?

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Despite the restrictions due to Covid 19 we’re most definitely carrying on as women of action! We’ve taken part in a host of activities to educate, enable and empower ourselves and support our local community and generally wave the flag to ‘Stand Up for Women’.   We marked the SIGBI Day of Action by posting on our Social Media to great local effect.    We’ve achieved another first for our Club in the world of culture.   And reflected on how Lockdown has affected ourselves and our actions. A spot of virtual theatre in action to educate ourselves We enjoyed a first by watching a two handed performance live over Zoom.   It had been devised, rehearsed and produced in lockdown again all by the wonders of Zoom. The production was titled “The Betrayal” and ran for about 20 minutes.   It was inspired by Pinter’s great play

Kenilworth Town Mayor with Joan, two Soroptimists and a Kenilworth Lion around new planters
What do you do when your wooden planter decides to play Jenga?

What do you do when your wooden planter decides to play Jenga?

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Call your friends in Soroptimists of course! Back in June we got a call from our friend Joan, who lives locally in sheltered accommodation.   The planks of her wooden planter looked more like a Jenga® tower with bits sticking out.   Was this alright?    Probably not!   A Club member rushed round to survey the damage.   To her dismay Joan’s raised bed in her planter was in grave danger of collapsing.    She strongly advised Joan not to venture out until we could sort it. But in those immortal words ‘Houston we have a problem’ 🙁 We had very little in the kitty to buy Joan a new planter and very little opportunity to do any fundraising.   Our treasurer gave us enough money to buy a medium sized one.   And Garden Sleepers, the company ,we bought it from kindly gave us a special price as it

Screen shot of Soroptimists enjoying a quiz night via Zoom
How do you educate Soroptimists in a fun way?

How do you educate Soroptimists in a fun way?

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By running a quiz on Zoom! The quiz was certainly a  fun way to test of our knowledge.   We had the advantage of being sent the two quiz picture rounds in advance so had time to think about them.   And educate ourselves on rabbits and App icons before tackling the questions. So how many cartoon Rabbits can you name? There are more cartoon rabbits than you think!   In fact there were 20 rabbits (although some were hares) on the first picture round of our Club quiz this month.   It helped if you had read to younger people, or had a long memory for adverts from the 80’s.   Do you remember the ‘Caramel Bunny’  at Easter or the Duracell adverts at Christmas?   There were of course such classic favourites as Peter Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, Dillon and Thumper The second picture round on App icons which also

#PlantTrees for World Environment Day
World Environment Day

World Environment Day

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Remember Plant a Tree in 73?  Well I can’t think of a clever rhyme for to go with 2021!     And although Club may not be able to take action right now, that doesn’t stop us planning for our Centenary. Has there ever been more important to help our environment? We want to do our bit for the environment  and our links to the United Nations SI Madurai have already had a positive impact on nature by planting a ‘tiny forest’ ready for their SI Centennial celebration. See their story of ‘Planting Trees for a Brilliant Future”. If you’re interested to see what we’re planning for 2021, do contact us via our website, Facebook or Twitter

Blue text on white background for Zoom meeting
Boom! We’ve Zoomed!

Boom! We’ve Zoomed!

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Is Zoom the new word for Club meetings? Definitely!  Like many Clubs, we’ve embraced the new technology to hold virtual meetings using Zoom.   Thanks to President Gill, we achieved a first for Club and many members.   Despite the restrictions of Lockdown, Gill, in true Soroptimist style, enabled to many of Club to take part. We had a fabulous meeting with 34 of Club.  We greeted members who can’t always attend.  Said hello to a new member who transferred just as Lockdown arrived.   And enjoyed questions from a prospective new member – who wants to attend our next meeting – yay!   It was very gratifying to see so many of our older members join us as ‘Silver Surfers’! And did it stop us having a speaker? Of course not!   Angela Sadler from SI Solihull spoke to us about her work as a JP in Birmingham. Many