SI Lichfield & District were delighted to announce record sales of hand knitted poppies which totalled £3,205.00 for the 2013 Poppy Appeal. This figure represents over 1,500 hand knitted poppies – a huge team effort which begins in December of the previous year and gathers momentum until November of the following year.  Club members, families and friends either, donate wool, knit or sell poppies during the poppy appeal.  A cheque for the total raised is given to the Lichfield Poppy Appeal Organiser, Mr David Haynes, who very kindly publicly thanked us in a letter printed in the Lichfield Mercury.  We in turn would also like to thank SI Burton & District for helping with our campaign this year.  If you would like to help with the 2014 Appeal please contact Bev Billings on 01543 491802 or 07710 379862.

The informal change of Insignia on Friday 8th November was a stark reminder of how time flies. As Lichfield & District club members saw Dishi Attwood hand over her chain of Office to incoming Regional President Edna Schafer-Hughes from SI Tamworth, it was hard to believe that 12 months had passed since Dishi took up office. The event was well attended with the usual high standard of catering from the staff of the Terrace Restaurant, Brownhills.  The evening was rounded off by ‘Simply Rhona’ a Tamworth Soroptimist who entertained the audience with her repertoire of poems in the style of Pam Ayres.

The latest evening for the 7th District Brownies, organised by Lichfield & District Soroptimists, was a change from the usual craft events. Club members, Angela Reynolds and Margaret Galuszka, accompanied by President Donna Cope gave instruction to the girls on the importance of washing their hands properly and looking after their teeth. Each Brownie was given a toothbrush, paste and lots of cards & stickers as a reminder of what they had learned.  The next craft event will take place on 28th November 2013.

7 members of SI Lichfield & District attended the 79th SIGBI Federation Conference at Newcastle-Gateshead Quays on 31st October – 2nd November. Two of our Sisters from SI Trinidad & Tobago, with whom our club share a friendship link, were also in attendance.  The theme for this year was “From Vision to Action – Soroptimists educating to lead” and challenged every member to become actively involved in the long term aims of the organisation and help to shape the lives & futures of women & girls throughout the world. Delegates were encouraged to wear the colour Red to the Red Square event on the 1st November when Soroptimists from all over the world assembled in Performance Square to raise awareness of Endometriosis.  Endometriosis is a complaint affecting women & girls which can take up to 11 years to diagnose.  Our members reported that there were many

Knickers for Knowledge, an award winning project, was started at the initiative of SI Barnstaple. SI Barnstaple have a friendship link with SI Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe, and have been financially supporting the club since the economic problems in Zimbabwe began, enabling the them to donate more money to local education projects. The Club discovered that girls in the poorer rural communities of Africa cannot attend school when they are menstruating due to the lack of sanitary towels and knickers.  A donation of only £8.00 will provide a year’s supply of sanitary towels and a pair of knickers.  By collecting clean clothing, shoes and handbags and selling them for 50p per kilo SI Barnstaple were able to raise funds for this worthy cause. Lichfield Soroptimists learned of this project at a Midlands Regional Meeting where Vanessa Billing from SI Barnstaple was a guest speaker and decided

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes is an International campaign aimed to rally support in local communities to raise awareness about the causes, effects and remedies for sexual assault and domestic violence against women. Coming from the old saying “put yourself in their shoes”, men are asked to literally walk one mile in women’s high heeled shoes.  Such an event was held on Saturday 19th October in Lichfield City Centre, in aid of the Pathway Project.   8 Soroptimists from SI Lichfield & District provided support with, registration, teas, tombola, raffle and acting as Stewards ‘rattling buckets’ along the one mile route. Those joining the walk included Michael Fabricant MP, David Latham (Chair of District Council), Colin Greatrex (Portfolio Holder for Community Safety) a stilt walker (heels do not get much higher than that!) and a barbershop quartet.  Pathway hopes to raise £1,000 from the event

  Lichfield Soroptimists are assisting the Solomons Million Makers (SMM) team from Solomons Europe Ltd, in supporting the National Million Makers Challenge. The team aims to raise £15,000 to support 12 young construction apprentices via The Prince’s Trust “Get into Construction Programme”.  The programme offers young people, who may not have gained a qualification at school, a local route into industry.  By donating your old phone you can help reach this target and SMM are giving participants the chance to win an Ipad Mini! Ellie Gormley from the Engineering section at Telford and Wrekin Council joined SI Lichfield & District earlier this year, so when Simon Rawlinson from the Solomons Million Makers Team (SMM) enlisted her support, Ellie immediately got the club involved.  For more information please contact Ellie Gormley on 07960 473188. In addition to donating mobile phones, there is also a justgiving link for

    4 members of SI Lichfield & District attended an afternoon tea at WhitemoorLakes, organised by SI Tamworth to recognise the International Day of Peace & Soroptimists International Club Friendship Day.  It gave Soroptimists an opportunity to rekindle existing friendships and form new ones with club members from other regions. A particular welcome was made to four ladies who had travelled down from SI Aireborough inYorkshire.   Julia Goodall, Friendship Link Co-ordinator at SI Tamworth gave a brief update of the clubs’ Friendship Links and guests enjoyed a delicious tea containing a mixture of sandwiches, a selection of cakes and tea of coffee.  

Speaking out – A Time for Change is a joint venture funded by the NHS and Comic Relief and aims to end mental health discrimination. Jane Campion-Hoye, from inspire2speak, introduced club members to Nicky who, at the age of 24, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.  Through other forms of communication, is this case reading a folk legend, Nicky paused at relevant points in the story to enable participants to ask questions.  By engaging in conversation with Nicky it helped give the participants a better understanding of the issues facing mental health sufferers.  It also gave Nicky, the opportunity to explain how having these problems impacts on her life. Club members agreed the discussions were enlightening and President Donna thanked Jane and Nicky for an interesting insight into this project.

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