The weather had been very unpromising all week, but on the 25th June, following heavy rain in the morning, Soroptimist Club members, family and friends enjoyed a bright sunny afternoon, for the annual Summer Garden party. Hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Dale, a lovely selection of savouries and cakes were available, supplemented by endless cups of  tea and coffee. A  Garden stall stocked with a wide variety of plants and shrubs and a home bake stall, plus a very generous Raffle  saw brisk sales. Joint Presidents, Miss Eileen Stewart and Mrs. Sue Challis, gave thanks to the hosts, for the use of their Home and Garden, and also to the Guests, many of whom come year after year, to support our events. A sum of £880.00 was raised, and will be utilised by the Program Action, Club comittee, which ensures that Women and Girls, locally, Nationally and Internationally benefit, by helping to

Valentine Nkoyo was invited to be our guest speaker at a recent meeting to talk about FGM, Female Genital Mutilation. A beautiful intelligent woman who herself had been subjected to this barbaric practice, as a nine year old. Describing in great detail the various degrees of cuttings that is perpetrated on young defenceless  girls, who are then married off to  older men, denying them an education and a chance to realise their dreams. This practice is far more widespread than what members realised. There is no religious requirement, it is a cultural tradition that is usually carried out by the elders of the village or tribe.  It could be the child’s own mother, grandmother or aunt. The degree of cutting is staged 1,2,or3, with 3 being the total excision of all their genitalia and being stitched from the Pubic area to the vagina. A small

Thank you to our Sewing ladies, we have 200 dresses to date and there is still more to come in. Thank you to our Fabric suppliers , Team Tots at Eastwood. Brackton Interiors at Mansfield. Ann from Mansfield, and Sheila Jean Whalley also from Mansfield The dresses start their journey to Sierra Leone on Thursday 14th April, via Maidenhead. A Project worker is in Sierra Leone visiting rural villages and getting a shopping lists from each, the dresses will then be sorted and delivered.

I was running out of cotton fabric and I decided to ask if there were any sewers on the Social Media site Streetlife  who could perhaps donate a meter of cotton fabric towards this project. After going on to Streetlife Social Media discussing our latest project, which is to Dress a girl around the World. To my amazement the generous ladies of Mansfield volunteered to sew these dresses Companies Team Tots from Eastwood and Braxton Interior donated fabric, as well as people who have stashes of fabric at home. A tutor in Fashion and Textiles contacted me offering fabric and she also has set a project for her students to complete a dress each. This has led to me being interviewed by the local Mansfield Newspaper The Chad, being interviewed on Radio Nottingham and tomorrow on Radio Mansfield, this project has snowballed, in fact the snowball is turning into

Saturday 5th March, at the Ravenshead Village Hall, Vernon Crescent, saw over 100 people attend the latest Soroptimist Craft Fair. Club members had worked extremely hard to make this the best ever, and were pleased to welcome several Crafters, who held their stalls in the main hall. A well stocked S.I. cake stall, and delicious home made lunches, coffee and cakes were served by our Social and Hospitality team. In the annexe, as a new venture, the members decided to sell donated quality clothing and accessories, shoes and hats. This was obviously a popular move from books and bric a brac in previous years, and raised an astonishing £500. Thanks to Beales of Mansfield, for the loan of sturdy clothing racks, without which, we could not have displayed the terrific volume of gowns, coats, suits etc. Thank you to all who donated and helped to

An overview of the day, showing the Pre loved Stalls, thanks to everyone who contributed clothes and accessories. It was a great success.    An astounding £1330 was raised at this event, thank you to everyone who helped.

Homemade Cake stall manned by Mansfield and District SI ladies, Utterly Pottery great original pots ideal for presents with a difference. Bespoke Candles, all hand made by the stall holder, whose ambition is to own her own Beehives. Old fashion sweet treats a taste for everyone.   £1330 is what we made, this money will go to the Breast Care Unit. Kings Mill Hospital. Thank You So Much

Fantastic day thanks to all our Crafters and of course to the Public for supporting this day.  We made £1330 pounds all going to Kings Mill Breast Care.   Thank you so much.

Sue and Rita are seen here with our new promotional material ” Stand in a Box” raising awareness of what Mansfield and District Soroptimist do. The manager at the local Odeon in Mansfield agreed for this display to occur before each showing of the film The Suffragette. Ricky the manager of the Odeon took these photographs and he is also sending them to the Odeon Newsletter.

This was published in the Mansfield Chronicle Advertiser in January 2016.