{"id":6594,"date":"2026-05-05T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/?p=6594"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:31:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:31:44","slug":"lord-mayors-afternoon-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/2026\/05\/05\/lord-mayors-afternoon-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Mayor&#8217;s Afternoon Tea"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/686acc57-47f3-4ada-a5df-e99eddda1bd5-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-6629 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/686acc57-47f3-4ada-a5df-e99eddda1bd5-1-249x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"249\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/686acc57-47f3-4ada-a5df-e99eddda1bd5-1-249x300.jpg 249w, https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/686acc57-47f3-4ada-a5df-e99eddda1bd5-1.jpg 531w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 249px) 100vw, 249px\" \/><\/a>As part of our Centenary Celebrations members of Soroptimist International Manchester were invited to afternoon tea with the Lord Mayor of Manchester Cllr Carmine Grimshaw. As the town hall is still undergoing refurbishment the civic and ceremonial team had relocated to the central library which was the venue for this very special afternoon. President Sophie and guests were warmly welcomed by the Lord Mayor and we were introduced to the Lord Mayor&#8217;s consort Cllr June Hitchen. They are colleagues in the Miles Platting and Newton Heath ward and it emerged that Cllr Hitchen had previously attended a Manchester dinner when she was Lord Mayor.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">Both the Lord Mayor and Consort were interested to know the history of our club and the many projects we support especially during our centenary year. We found some common interests in that they also support a girls football team and the Consort had secured donations of Revlon beauty products for Contact and had visited the hostel.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">When the doors of the banqueting room were opened we all gave a gasp as the table was beautifully decorated and laden with delicious looking food. We were not disappointed. After much chatter and partaking of the delicious sandwiches, pastries and cakes the Lord Mayor asked each of us to give brief details of our own Soroptimist journey and the reasons why we became Soroptimists.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/6b888b9e-204b-40ea-b018-edf799ae773b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6614 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/6b888b9e-204b-40ea-b018-edf799ae773b-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/6b888b9e-204b-40ea-b018-edf799ae773b-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/6b888b9e-204b-40ea-b018-edf799ae773b.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">The Lord Mayor then moved to the head of the table and thanked us for our support for women and girls in Manchester and beyond. President Sophie responded with our thanks for a truly enjoyable and memorable occasion in this our Centenary Year which was the perfect way to conclude a lovely afternoon.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/e6a7405b-b1b9-4eda-86d9-65a57ffa8661.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-6627 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/e6a7405b-b1b9-4eda-86d9-65a57ffa8661-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/e6a7405b-b1b9-4eda-86d9-65a57ffa8661-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/e6a7405b-b1b9-4eda-86d9-65a57ffa8661.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/a6ba741d-2d60-43f1-8d39-f59db3c8763e.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-6630 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/a6ba741d-2d60-43f1-8d39-f59db3c8763e-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/a6ba741d-2d60-43f1-8d39-f59db3c8763e-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/sigbi.org\/manchester\/files\/2026\/05\/a6ba741d-2d60-43f1-8d39-f59db3c8763e.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">I think Susan Hollick summed up what we all thought as we left; we were proud of one another and proud to be a Soroptimist.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: right\"><strong><em>Carole Swarbrick<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of our Centenary Celebrations members of Soroptimist International Manchester were invited to afternoon&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-club-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lord Mayor&#039;s Afternoon Tea | News | Blog | Events | SI Manchester<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SI Manchester : Blog &amp; News : Lord Mayor&#039;s Afternoon Tea : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Manchester . 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