Late October saw 8 members of SI Lichfield & District board a train to Bournemouth to the ‘Think on It’ SIGBI conference. Two were conference ‘virgins’ who wondered what it was all going to be about – little did they know how inspiring it would be as well as being full of laughter, high drama and finding out a lot more about each other.
We checked we all had something green to wear for the next day’s ‘Think on It’ theme before making our way to the conference centre to marvel at the opening ceremony with all the flags of the countries within our federation being presented to SIGBI President Sue Williams.
We were soon singing away with the Bournemouth Rock Choir before we made our way to a restaurant in the Winter Gardens. We all agreed that we needed a glass (or two!) of prosecco to recover from the uphill walk back to our hotel.
The Friday morning found us enjoying the breakfast buffet before making the walk down the hill, spotting other friendly faces all going the same way with the very noticeable tote bags from the Bournemouth tourist office. Our speakers for the day started with Baroness Susan Greenfield telling us how the mind worked and how her company was developing medications to stop the symptoms of dementia.
Then George Anderson, who soon became ‘Gorgeous George’ to us, got us thinking more about what well-being was, and how our physical health should be a ‘work in progress’ and not one for perfection every time. It made a nice change to be told to be gentle on ourselves instead of ‘going for the burn’!
We were then all very impressed with Katy, a 16 year old young woman who suffered from mental health problems throughout most of her life and the steps she had taken to overcome these challenges.
Finally that morning the Presidential hustings gave us a good opportunity to get to know the candidates and some lively discussions over lunch were held about both of them.
The SIGBI General Meeting is usually a staid and well ordered part of the conference, but for President Karen it became quite nerve wracking when the resolutions were to be voted upon as she had SI Lichfield’s vote to cast. There were various amendments to resolutions that became more complicated when one member challenged the process being undertaken and requested an amended resolution. The auditorium erupted in excited chatter once the Board and their advisers considered the proposal.
So, what was President Karen supposed to do? She took the only route possible and gained the opinion of the members present and voted for the amendments which had a significant impact on the constitution of the organisation. What a relief for all when it was time for us to leave. President Elect Jennifer McLelland said she had never seen such excitement in a subject that was so boring on paper!
It was quite a relief to get back to the hotel and change to eat at the lovely seafood restaurant on the seafront and ‘chew the cud’ about the day’s events and speakers.
Saturday morning dawned grey, windy and wet, but luckily we managed to walk to the conference centre in between showers. In the breaks we had all managed to view the exhibitions that various clubs and companies were explaining their products and making sales.
We were pleased to see Gill and Rose from SI Thames Valley on their stand to promote the Kori Project. President Karen took the opportunity to ask them, and leave messages for our other Friendship clubs to join us that lunchtime for a photograph of us all to help us celebrate Lichfield’s 21 years as a club.
But before that we had the morning session to enjoy. Penny Mallory, a descendant of Everest mountaineer George Mallory, talked to us about why developing our mental toughness will help us to prosper. We were all a bit over-awed by this lady who was the first woman rally driver to win a race in her Ford rally spec car, climbed Mount Elbrus (5,642m) and Kilimanjaro (5,895m), as well as learnt how to box!
So the tempo slowed considerably when Dr Kay Richmond SIGBI Programme Director talked about Programme Action – in particular, how economic empowerment was the key for improving the lives of women. We were then shown the work of the winners of the Best Practice Awards in 6 different categories – Advocacy, Economic Empowerment, Education, Environment, Food Security and Health and Violence against Women. It was lovely to see Dame Vera Baird take the stage and talk about the Specialist Domestic Violence Court Project that we would be taking part in in early 2020.
After lunch we heard about the conclusion of the Meru Women’s Garden Project – SIGBI’s 3 year project ending this year and learnt more about the 2019 – 2022 project Empowering Girls in Nepal.
A very good presentation was made by Phillip Holmes from Chora Chori, the charity we are partnering with. He described how, if parents are sent to prison, the children also have to go there and how they have helped 700 girls who have been trafficked into India. The key work the charity does is to rescue, rehabilitate, educate/train, re-integrate and get justice for the girls.
The closing session was given by Dr Leyla Hussein. Her session was titled The Cruel Cut: Breaking the Cycle. She showed us a video that had been made in the UK that took young men from cultures where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practised and graphically told and showed them in plasticine models what FGM was. It was a very shocking sight and visibly upset the young men, many of whom said they would not let this happen to their sisters.
We then had time to have a meal before the closing ceremony and Change of Insignia, but as the weather was so bad outside we made our way to the closest bar which luckily was able to provide a table for us to eat early. We could watch the sea outside and decided we were in a better place than the surfers who were trying to find a good wave.
So, all good things must come to an end and we watched all the new Regional Presidents be presented to Sue Williams, the outgoing SIGBI President. She then installed Isobel Smith as the new SIGBI President.
As always lots of pictures were taken before Abba’s Angels entertained everyone with an excellent routine that had us singing and dancing in the aisles.
After the Votes of Thanks by Sue Williams and Isobel Smith, we said our goodbyes to everyone, walked one last time up the hill to our hotel and enjoyed a good chat (with a glass or two of bubbly!) about the packed two and a half days.
If you’d like to know more about us, why not contact our Membership Officer Louie for a chat?
