We want to open an honest discussion about our fears, concerns and hopes and we think it would be a good opportunity to bring people together across the generational divide to, hopefully, find common ground, and learn from one other’s knowledge and experience. Research shows there are typically four reasons people do not want to talk about climate change: • I do not know enough • I do not want to talk about scary things • I do not think I can make a difference • I do not want to cause an argument This is a safe, supportive forum in which to exchange views and explore our feelings. Here are some initial questions to get us thinking: • What do you see as the biggest threat facing us, as human beings? • When did you become aware of environmental issues? • What, if any,

We will have Ruth Mayes and David Hill from Stokesley Rotary Club as speakers for our October’s meeting. They will be giving a presentation about their 100-mile ‘Walk for Water’ event in 2019. They raised just over the targeted £5,000 for the Village Water charity to provide clean water access to a Zambian community. Flier – Walk for Water UPDATE (20/10/2022) Our speakers, David Hill and Ruth Mayes, explained that they had developed a special interest in supporting projects to provide clean water after reading an article in a Rotary magazine about a village in Zambia where water had to be collected (mostly by women and children). They would often walk for 20 minutes to source water that was unfit to drink, which resulted in many people becoming ill. Children were missing school in order to collect water for the family and women were exposed to

We were honoured to have the Chair of SI Foundation, Sue Williams, with us on the evening. It was a delightful event attended by our friends. The delicious buffet was prepared by our members which was enjoyed by all. Many thanks to all our members and our quiz master, Pam Cooper (Secretary), for the entertaining evening 🙂 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Give your brain a workout at our Quiz Night, an evening of fun, food and friendship. Our quiz nights are always enjoyable, relaxing and not too competitive – a chance to get together and enjoy some food for the body and food for the mind. Discover interesting facts like… * Which civilisation created Machu Picchu? * Who was England’s first female dentist? Tickets are of £10, to include buffet and tea / coffee. The tickets will be sent by e-mail; hence, the e-mail requiring a ticket can

SIM members took part in a litter pick in Stewart Park organised by Climate Action Middlesbrough earlier this month for Love Parks Week. Also, our members attended Middlesbrough Mela at Albert Park to make people realise the importance of keeping their surroundings clean. People were asked to throw rubbish in the biodegradable refuse bags carried by SIM members instead of throwing it on the ground.

Since our AGM, we have had wonderful speakers. In May, we had Val Lambert, talking about yoga and its benefits, and this month we had our new member Catherine Donovan, speaking about her work as an Educational Psychotherapist. We are thankful to both for enlightening us about the topics. For anyone who is interested, Val, kindly, offers free yoga classes on Mondays between 1 and 2 p.m. at the International Community Centre on Abingdon Road, Middlesbrough.

Recently, we had International Women’s Day celebration where we were delighted to welcome guests from SI Stockton, and, also, some of the wonderful women who had featured in Jan Hunter’s series in the Darlington and Stockton Times (D&S T). Our speaker, Hannah Chapman, is the first female Editor of D&S T and gave an interesting insight into the challenges of the role. Jenny Medhurst, a Fairtrade campaigner, brought a stall so that we could buy Fairtrade products and generate some urgently needed income for farmers (many of them women) whose livelihoods are affected by the fall in sales due to the pandemic and the threat of climate change. Jenny told us some stories from those communities – some concerning, others heart-warming. We are thankful to our speakers and all our guests for gracing us with their presence on the evening.

We were delighted to present President Elect Uzma with her chain of office at our recent meeting.

SI Middlesbrough have worked alongside The Bungalow Partnership for a number of years by providing treats for the families at Easter and Christmas, knitted teddies for the children, and general support for the work of the organisation. Our latest contribution in preparation for the festive season includes the usual goodies plus colouring books and crayons for the children. The Director and one of the original founders, Marie Blythe, was recently featured in the Darlington and Stockton Times in an article which highlighted her dedication to children whose emotional well-being had been impacted by poverty, sexual abuse and domestic violence. Marie’s work includes using play and the language of children in order to explore the difficulties in their lives. She says “You try to see the world through their eyes…..you try to gain their trust – we are not the experts, the child is”. Marie’s current

We are delighted to welcome back our President Elect Uzma who has had a long stay in Pakistan dealing with family issues.