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Visit to Hopetoun House

Visit to Hopetoun House

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On Thursday 26 May seven members of SI Kirkcaldy went on the club’s annual outside visit to Hopetoun House, a country house near South Queensferry. The house is one of the finest stately homes in Scotland. The first phase of the house was built between 1696 and 1710, and then it was largely remodelled by William Adam in 1721-48. The house is surrounded by extensive grounds, with a deer park, wilderness areas and formal gardens. Home to the Hopetoun family for over 300 years, the Earl of Hopetoun lives in the house and his father, the 4th Marquess of Linlithgow, lives on the estate.                                            

New President Sally!

New President Sally!

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At our recent AGM, Sally Tullett was elected as President for 2023 – 2024. Sally grew up and lived in Bristol until she took early retirement from Barclays PLC where she had worked as an experienced banker and business relationship manager with Barclays Corporate for 39 years. She and her husband Andy relocated to Scotland to be closer to family. They have been married for forty-one years and now have a growing family with twin non-identical sons, two stepsons, four daughters-in-law and ten grandchildren, including a set of identical twins. Sally joined Soroptimist International Bristol in 2005and takes great pleasure in Community work. When in Bristol she was involved with several local enterprises, including mentoring long-term unemployed persons and helping them to turn their interests / hobbies into lifestyle business and beyond. She was also involved with secondary schools / colleges teaching the basics of

Donation to Leading Change Uganda

Donation to Leading Change Uganda

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Lillian, who heads up the charity in Uganda, has sent her thanks for the very generous donation from SI Kirkcaldy. She said that the money will be used to support various programmes run by Leading Change Uganda.  One programme is called Smile of the Child and will see many children receiving new mattresses, and items that they need for school. The Wangari Women’s Project will see the women being trained in tailoring and making paper bags. And the group in Kawaala, which comprises 13 ladies, will use some of the money to buy charcoal to sell.

30 Years’ Membership Award

30 Years’ Membership Award

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Roberta went to see Margot and took her 30 Years’ Membership Award, as well as cakes – and Margot had made delicious shortbread! Margot was delighted to receive the certificate and commented she was  amazed that it was 30 years since she had joined Soroptimists. We had a pleasant afternoon chatting and  catching up on Soroptimist business.   President Annette presented Roberta with her 30 Years’ Service Certificate after the club meeting on 27 March. The other member who should receive her 30 Years’ Certificate is Margot who was unable to come to the meeting but will be presented with the certificate at home. If you would like to come long to one of our meetings to see if it’s for you then get in touch with us here

My Life in a Mess

My Life in a Mess

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Our speaker on 27 March was Maureen Young who is a journalist. Maureen spent a lot of her time being embedded with mainly the Black Watch, but also the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on their postings around the world, in places such as Berlin, Northern Ireland and Kosovo. Maureen’s talk was entitled ‘My Life in a Mess’ which alluded to the fact that she was always given the honorary rank of officer when with the army and would eat in the officers’ mess. Maureen has a great sense of humour, and is apparently fearless, telling us with a laugh how she was pushed out of a plane from about 12 feet up as the plane was unable to land. She was occasionally in quite dangerous situations but says she didn’t feel afraid as she had full confidence in the army. We thoroughly enjoyed Maureen’s reminiscences. 

Concert Fundraiser

Concert Fundraiser

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On Thursday 23 March the club held a fundraising concert to raise money for two organisations close to our hearts. Bruce Davies, local singing legend, agreed to do the concert gratis, and the hotel where we meet, the Dean Park, agreed to give us the room for nothing. The money from tickets was allocated to Leading Change Uganda and the bottle raffle proceeds were earmarked for Alzheimer Scotland. Bruce was delighted to sign for Leading Change Uganda as his mother was a great supporter of the cause, and he knows Linda, the UK fundraiser personally. He told the audience that he was pleased to hear that the raffle money was to be donated to Alzheimer Scotland as it is a cause ‘close to his heart’. Bruce is an award winning singer songwriter and one of our members, who organised the concert, was his music teacher!

Bruce Davies Concert

Bruce Davies Concert

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We are holding a fundraising concert to raise money for Leading Change Uganda. The Dean Park Hotel has very kindly given us the use of the room for free, and Bruce is taking no fee either, so all proceeds will go towards helping the women and children in Uganda. Some of the women are going to be rearing goats and pigs so will need some starting capital for these enterprises, which we can help with. There are a few tickets left so if you want one don’t hesitate! Phone Roberta on 07845174901 to reserve a ticket which you can pick up on the night.  

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International Women’s Day Event

International Women’s Day Event

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Fife Centre for Equalities invited our club to the International Women's Day event which was held in St Bryce Kirk on the afternoon of IWD on 8th March. We had a PowerPoint presentation on a loop, showing many of the projects we have been involved in over the last few years, and we had two pop-up banners and leaflets to give out. Women came to our stall and asked about Soroptimists and our club. We also went to look at the other stalls to see if we could find any potential speakers.
Household Goods Sale

Household Goods Sale

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In November we joined other stallholders at a ‘Car Boot Sale’ in Milton of Balgonie which, thankfully, was held inside the Community Hall. There weren’t as many customers as we would have liked but fellow stall holders purchasing items made it worthwhile. We donated the unsold books to the Community Hall for their library and some of the goods will be sold at another sale after Christmas. The £120 we raised went into our charity fund.