It is with great sadness that I take over the role of web manager. Bev died unexpectedly earlier this week and we have been stunned by the news. Bev has been a member of our club for about three years when she was literally ‘picked up’ by Bev Haywood in a cafe simply because they shared the same name. We learned that Bev had left her job as Managing Director of an international company to care for her Mum who had recently died.
Bev had been a fundraiser for the World Wildlife Fund and immediately offered to take the lead in fundraising and then did so much more. Her drive and energy produced great outcomes for our events and opportunities for service. In the last year or so, she took the lead on press and publicity and developed the quality of our website, raised our profile on Facebook and the local press and was so delighted to have our now famous washing line of dresses as the first SIGBI ‘Photo of the Month’.
This may make you think that Soroptimism was her life but she was dedicated to her family, keeping everyone in touch with each other. Her early morning phone calls were her trademark. She was often to be found with her great nieces and nephews – her commitment to Gracie who needed a gluten free diet meant that we too had the opportunity to enjoy her bakes. Orders came in to her from everyone she met and all the payments for her lovely cakes went straight in the charity box.
This is not a timely passing and Bev herself will be really cross as it has happened right in the middle of her fund raising for the British Legion – as poppy appeal organiser for Longdon, she had already had a village fair and raised over £600. She had organised a poppy fundraiser at the sewing shop in Lichfield next week – tea, cakes and workshops to make your own poppy in three different styles.
Lichfield Soroptimists will make sure the fundraiser happens. We know that our cakes will not rise as high, our tea will not be poured as expertly and our poppies will not meet Bev’s high standards. But we will do our best in her memory. Instead of a meeting last night, we raised a glass to Bev in her local. We will miss her.