Both, Pam and Susan, spoke at the SI Yorkshire’s regional meeting on Saturday, the 30th of November 2013, on “The Challenges of Membership” and “Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)“, respectively. Moreover, the following pictures of SIM’s secretary, Pam Cooper, along with the SI Magdeburg members, are taken from the Magdeburg’s website’s Friendship Link (Middlesbrough) section, which were taken at the SI Europe Congress in Berlin in summer 2013.  

Depicted are some of the SIM members who gathered together an assortment of Christmas presents for the homeless in Middlesbrough – hoping this may add some cheer for those less fortunate than us over the December festivities.  

On Thursday, the 21st of November, we spent an enjoyable evening catching up with club business and Programme Action news, which is so important to our members. We welcomed a new SIM member into our group also – Mrs Maureen Taylor – and the picture shows a splendid array of jewellery (both costume, semi precious and some in need of repair) which had been collected and donated by SIM members to the Alzheimer’s Society. Our treasurer Alwyn will keep us posted once it has been acknowledged.

Six members of SI Middlesbrough attended the annual SIGBI Federation conference at the Sage concert hall Gateshead in October and early November 2013, where some 1,400 Soroptimists met over 3 days to review the previous year’s work. The conference was launched with a short demonstration of solidarity outside the famous Sage to raise awareness about endometriosis – which often goes undiagnosed late into women’s reproductive lives and can be life changing and life threatening. A sea of red was manifested as Soroptimists gathered together asking the public and all medical professions not to forget the impact of this awful disease which can sometimes be dismissed just as ‘painful periods’.

SI Middlesbrough celebrated UN International Day of Peace with a talk by member Shahda Khan MBE about her recent visit, with a group of other north-eastern women, to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva. The purpose of the visit was to lobby governments to take more effective action on discrimination and violence against women in its many forms. Shahda’s talk was illuminating and revealed major deficits in government policy in the UK. Much more needs to be done to lobby MPs, raise awareness, and work in a co-ordinated way with other women’s groups. We also had the pleasure of a brief talk from one of our Federation Directors, Jackie Paling, who has done a great deal of voluntary work with a women’s refuge in Afghanistan.  Everyone enjoyed a delicious buffet of English and Asian foods.            

SI Middlesbrough presents an hour of poetry readings on the 24th of October, 2013 beteen 6:00 p.m and 7:00 p.m., preceded by refreshments from 5.30pm at the Teesside University. Volunteers have the choice to either read their own poem or favourite poem of another poet. Contact Hema Ayupala at osarah2008@gmail.com to be included in our programme, or ring Annabel for details on 0775 341 8035. Kindly, check the attached flier of the evening. SIM Poetry Evening Also, please, register your details by clicking the following link to book your place: Poetry Evening Registration

SIM celebrates the United Nations (UN) International Day of Peace on Saturday the 21st of September 2013 where Shahda Khan MBE will talk about her recent visit to Geneva to lobby the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at The Acklam Green Centre, Stainsby Road, Middlesbrough, TS5 4JS. The celebration will begin at 6:00 in the evening and last for two hours. Mixed buffet of European and Asian foods will be provided. This event is open to everyone interested in the subject. The tickets of £10 are available from Mrs. A Kraus, Darnholme, Ladgate Lane, Middlesbrough, TS4 3SF (Tel: 01642 325924). Please, get your tickets before the deadline, i.e., 13/09/13 Following is the flyer which you can view as well as download: SIM UN Day of Peace Flyer We hope to see you there.

Last night, President Geraldine hosted an Indian Evening at the Dosa Houze Restaurant in Middlesbrough for a little over 30 people. She welcomed everyone with a flower stem; and inside the pretty venue we were also offered Indian bangles and halva sweets in-line with the theme of the evening. Soroptimists had travelled from SI Stockton, Darlington, Penrith, Harrogate, Wakefield, Hallamshire and Tynemouth and Whitley Bay clubs; and we were pleased to welcome assorted other guests.   Margaret Clark gave an illustrated talk about her visit to Southern India in the Tamil State last year in order to celebrate the opening of a new club – SI Kodaikanal. A pleasant time was had by all.  

8th June 2013:  Regional President Patricia Gatherum invited all fourteen clubs in our area – Northern England – to attend a meeting and devote the afternoon to reviewing the voluntary work and projects we have been tackling as Soroptimists throughout the past 50 years or so. Regional meetings are scheduled quarterly and these are one of the main ways of showcasing our campaigns, which we Soroptimists call ‘Programme Action’. Club members may choose to attend these or not. There were eight members attending from SI Middlesbrough on this occasion. We looked back to the sixties and then advanced to current times and even ventured to speculate about what might be ahead, in the future.  In addition to the philanthropic Programme Action, we had a bit of fun, dressing up in the fashions we wore then too.     The picture shown above depicts Uzma and Hema