Good evening ladies and gentlemen.<\/p>\n
A lot of people who find themselves in the position I’m in at the moment, google “Soroptimism”. You’ll be relieved to know that I haven’t done that but thought I would give you my take on Soroptimism.<\/p>\n
It means holidays\u00a0 – in November – in Glasgow, where it didn’t stop raining! After Glasgow last year, you bet I’m looking forward to Malta this November where I can enjoy, hopefully, some better weather – and the company of Soroptimists for a whole week – I don’t know if I can keep up with all that socialising!<\/p>\n
It means being available to help set up a stall – or even worse with my DIY skills, a gazebo – at some god-forsaken hour of the morning on a Saturday in some muddy field.<\/p>\n
It means having my house taken over on the 3rd Weds of every month when the Lichfield Sewing Bee comes to town – or, to be more precise, to my dining room! \u00a0Mind you, I can’t hear what they are saying as the shrieks of laughter are drowned out by the constant buzz of sewing machines and the clacking of knitting needles.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, you thought that sweatshops in the UK were a thing of the past – well, you come to my house on a Weds evening and you’ll soon change your mind!<\/p>\n
Mind you, there are some benefits of a houseful of women – once they’ve had their fill of drinks and cakes, there’s usually some left for me! And when I say drinks, it’s often of the tea and coffee variety, but many’s the time there’s been an excuse for a bit of alcohol – whether it’s mulled wine at Christmas or a glass of prosecco to celebrate the Queens’ 90th birthday. \u00a0 \u00a0And guess who’s called upon to carry out the sewing machines to cars at the end of the evening – yours truly!<\/p>\n
It’s not just the dining room that is out of bounds but where do we keep all the material in between Sewing Bee meetings. Yes, you’ve guessed it – the area formerly known as the garage has become the store room, or, as I call it, the Distribution Centre with dresses awaiting despatch to other SI clubs or outside organisations for onward distribution to various countries in Africa. \u00a0And of course, all this needs to be organised so whenever I’m working from home, there’s no point me picking up the telephone as the caller never wants me. Always Christine, and it’s always a Soroptimist at the other end of the phone.\u00a0 And it’s usually a person who’s already rung at least twice that day already!<\/p>\n
And being involved with Soroptimism over a period of around 12 years, I’ve decided that there are three time zones – BST, British Summer Time running from the end of March to the end of October, GMT running for the other five months, then finally what I term SAT, Soroptimist Arrival Time which runs 10 minutes ahead of both the other time zones throughout the year.<\/p>\n
Seriously though, I am proud to be a Soroptimister knowing that all of you ladies are able to make a real difference to the lives of women and girls through all the work you do, whether it’s:<\/p>\n
You all do a wonderful job in your service for others.<\/p>\n
So could you all please stand and join me in a toast to Soroptimist International – Soroptimist International!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. A lot of people who find themselves in the position…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":561,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-club-news-from-april-2016"],"yoast_head":"\n