President Chris was delighted to welcome Bev Billings as a new member for SI Lichfield and District. Bev was introduced by Bev Haywood after a chance meeting in Lichfield. Starting as a secretary, Bev worked her way to Managing Director. She is enthusiastic and will be a great asset to the Club. There will be confusion however as Bev will mentor Bev as she starts her Soroptimist journey!
Lichfield President Chris and four members visited Mansfield Club recently. The evening was a Mansfield Club Friendship evening fundraiser with invitations to other local organisations. We enjoyed a lovely buffet supper, lost on the raffle and played and lost at Beetle. A fabulous evening where we were made most welcome. Thank you SI Mansfield!
Lichfield President Chris attended Wolverhampton Charter Dinner along with President Dishi, Bev and Margaret. Featured from Wolverhampton Club are President Julia and Tish.
President Chris with Lichfield Soroptimists Bev, Donna and Margaret attended the Salvation Army Concert at the Symphony Hall by invitation of Major Steve White, Corps Officer at B’ham Citadel. The Christmas Fair on Saturday 10th December had raised £1400 for the Salvation Army and President Chris was proud to hand over the cheque.
This year we are combining Christmas, Literacy and Brownies. Each Brownie will receive an Usborne Young Reader Shakespeare Play to add to the Classic Tale they received from us last year. Lichfield Soroptimists are leading the carol concert and Guiding Staff are leading the fundraising during the evening.
Presidents Dishi Attwood and Chris Corless were delighted to present a cheque to David Haynes on behalf the British Legion. The amazing total of £1320 was well over the £1000 target with orders already received for next year!! Thank you to all the knitters and sellers – we couldn;t have done it without you!!
Members of Lichfield Club, Angela Reynolds, Donna Cope and Gill Tomlinson spent the morning in Lichfield library raising awareness. Gwyneth’s decorative tiolet was a star attraction with water saving crystals being given out to reduce the amount of water used for every flush. Leaflets and posters for Water Aid were also available. The team would like to thank the Library staff for their hospitality and continued support.
For the first time, I attended the Remembrance Sunday service at the National Memorial Arboretum. From our region, President Judith, Immediate Past President Pat, Federation Councillor Bozena, Past President Pauline, Caroline and I attended. The presidents of all the Midland Regions were together for the first time. Members of Solihull Club attended and it was a pleasure to see them again. After the service, we all went to the Soroptimist Plot to place the two wreaths, one from Region and one from Federation. The peace pledge was read out. Our Soroptimist Plot looks wonderfully planted and tended.
I would like to direct you to the SIGBI Conference website for detailed information about the conference that Lesley, Margaret and I attended. It was very informative and there is something very special in being at a conference centre with hundreds of Soroptimists – any of whom we can approach and talk to and the work of their club will be based on the same principles as our own. However, we would hate to minimise the fun aspects of the days in Brighton. We ate with Barnstaple Club members on Thursday evening and Wolverhampton members on Friday night. As you can see, Lesley and I found the opportunity to go onto Brighton Pier and were tempted by the fish…….the rest is in the photo!!
We were delighted to welcome Major Adrian Stringer to speak at our meeting. He was able to tell us about the wide number of projects that that they support and actively work on: Accomodation for victims of domestic violence Youth services for disaffected young people Practical and emotional support for victims of trafficking Community language classes for non English speakers Hostels for homeless Employment+ support for young jobless Strengthening of family relationships with those who have left home through conflict Employ over 300 people Many of these are areas of work for Soroptimists and we asked if we could have a visit from the lead of one of the projects for a more detailed account. This has been agreed and will be on the calendar next year.
