When we attended the awards evening for the Leeds United Ladies youth squad recently to see the impressive collection of cups and awards the U16 and U18 teams have won this year we learned that the teams will officially be known as Leeds United Women in future – in line with other senior women’s clubs.  The youngest teams will still be looking for sponsorship and support despite the welcome advances in help and cooperation from the main (men’s) club. The achievements of the girls have again been fantastic, and the encouragement to keep on playing sport is well worthwhile.

Progress on the building work has been rapid and impressive and there is now a proper building for the storage and sale of produce as well as for meetings and delivery of education.  We are looking forward to more reports of the progress next month. Looking for internal fixtures and fittings will be the next stage.

In the second year of the project there were modifications to how things were run, learning from the lessons of year one, and the summer school was replaced with work during the spring holidays to fit in better for the girls and for the leaders and students helping to deliver the project. The exhibition of work was held in the city centre and there were links made with overseas students as well as projects in other cities in the UK.  We’ve been delighted with the way this has taken off and the pathways it has led to for all concerned.  

We were delighted to agree a major contribution to a new building in Nepal for the Jitpurhedi Women’s Agricultural Cooperative which President Terry had visited while volunteering in Nepal in late 2016.  We’re looking forward to seeing the pictures and hearing about the progress – we know the construction work is already under way.  Exciting times!

Many congratulations to Pavilion, chosen by club members for our new project developing and maintaining aspirations of girls and young women. We look forward to working with this project over the next 3 years.  This project was felt to meet most closely the objectives both for desired outcomes and for opportunities for our involvement. It was a very difficult decision because we had three excellent presentations from groups all providing or proposing wonderful work with girls and young women in Leeds, all of which would have made very good use of the funds available, and we would like to explore other ways of working with Getaway Girls and Black Health Initiative either now or in the future. http://www.pavilion.org.uk/programme/artschool/ for details of the winning Art School for Rebel Girls project. https://www.getawaygirls.co.uk/   see their current crowdfunding appeal for a project with Syrian girls http://www.blackhealthinitiative.org/

We are delighted that the Ladies are back in the fold with the main club and enjoying support from the club – including use of Elland Road for the first home match this week to give them a great start to the season.  We are also very happy to continue our support for the younger teams and we look forward to more reports of their progress. And we are so proud of the girls’ excellent record of achievements and progress, both on the field and in developing their broader sense of community!  

At our May meeting we were delighted to hear Belinda Goode, a Dementia Friends Champion, on the subject of the varying presentations of dementia and how to watch out for those needing a little help and understanding, and how we can encourage people living with dementia to take their opportunities to live well with it for as long as they possibly can.  This is a one-way path but can take varied courses and may be slowed at times or accommodated in lives still capable of being very worthwhile and enjoyable. The individual is often living in the moment – a very fashionable concept for everyone these days – and their perception of the world around them may be very different from ours but perfectly valid for them.  

We’re proud to be sponsoring the U15 squad whose first year is proving very successful, as well as supporting the rest of the club.  In addition to their own achievements, we were delighted to hear of their support for other teams in the area, spreading the benefits to a wider base of girls in the Leeds area in their quest to fulfil their footballing potential and be the best they can! We’re delighted to hear of their fantastic achievement in this first year, winning the Cup!  Many congratulations!

In our October meeting we were delighted to welcome two members of SI Harrogate & District – Val Hills and Heather Shipman – who had recently completed the trainer course run by the Parliamentary Outreach group.  They led us in discussions about how best to lobby both MPs and peers on matters we wish to bring to public attention.