President Nancy was guest at the opening of the Nantwich Museum’s new Exhibition celebrating 100 years since some women were able to vote. The photo shows her with (L-R) David Morgan, Research Group, David Marren, Mayor of Nantwich, Laura Smith MP and Helen Cooke, Vice Chair of Museum The display focussed on three women with local connections: Helen Macfarlane (1818-1860), Ada Nield Chew (1870-1945) and Gwyneth Dunwoody (1930-2008). The exhibition also included material on Nantwich’s contribution to the struggle for women’s suffrage and the role of the First World War. The exhibition also had some interesting “Suffragette” Jewellery, that women had made for themselves with purple, green and white semi-precious stones – each piece was unique and was a sign to others of the cause she espoused. The opening evening, attended by our President and our local MP, amongst others, was a great way to

On 23 July 2019, the club had a moving and inspirational presentation from Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (Cheshire and Merseyside). Project manager Kirsty explained the setup of the charity and the way the Centre works for and with survivors of sexual abuse. She shared some shocking statistics which highlighted just how necessary their services are: at least 20% of women in this country experience some form of sexual abuse in their life time, and around 3% will have experienced sexual abuse in the last year. And these statistics include only those cases where women have disclosed the abuse. Undoubtedly the real figures are considerably higher! The Centre itself has been going in our region since 1995 and performs an absolutely vital service for the community in Crewe and surroundings which is funded by the Council and the local crime commissioner amongst others. Last

The main event of the evening  was hearing from Ben Selby about his work as a dementia champion in Nantwich and helping us understand more about dementia and what we can do to help the area become more dementia friendly. Ben is driven by his own personal experience of caring for his granddad and spoke from the heart about how dementia affects people, and very importantly, how we can help people living with dementia have a good quality of life.  We  did an exercise to step into the shoes of someone living with dementia, which was very interesting and illuminating.

After a very busy day at our Conference (Nantwich and District Soroptimists’ 70th Anniversary Conference: 1 June 2019. ) members and guests gathered for a celebratory dinner at the Hunters Lodge Hotel.                 After a lovely dinner we were entertained by Cathie Sabine, former President of the Lawn Tennis Association. Before the Conference…. Carole hosted a fish and chip supper for our visitors! On the morning after the dinner… members entertained our visitors at the Nantwich Bookshop before they left for home.      

The AGM is an occasion to reflect on the year past and plan for the forthcoming year.  An interesting part of the 2019 AGM were the reports from Club officers which revealed the wide range of activities the Club undertook during the past 12 months: support for the Anti- Slavery Campaign, Christmas gift boxes, support for International Women’s Day, lunch at the Clink, trip to see the Book of Mormon – to name but a few! Members also noted the revised and improved social media coverage for our club! However, the highlight of the evening was the Change of Insignia when President Nancy passed the Presidential ‘reins’ to incoming President Helen for the 2019/2020 year.   Helen addressed the meeting: “First of all I would like to thank Nancy for a very good year. the AGM reports were great and showed how much we’d achieved

At the first dinner meeting of her Presidential year Helen welcomed 5 prospective new members who joined us for the evening. Following the usual tasty dinner we heard from Helen Green and Ceri Garrett from Dementia UK. Mental Health is the core theme of Presidents Helen’s year in office and our speakers focussed on the care they provide for people suffering from a range of dementia related illnesses. Admiral Nurses provide the specialist dementia support that families need. When things get challenging or difficult, the nurses work alongside people with dementia, and their families: giving them one-to-one support, expert guidance and practical solutions. The unique dementia expertise and experience an Admiral Nurse brings is a lifeline–it helps families to live more positively with dementia in the present, and to face the challenges of tomorrow with more confidence and less fear. Most Admiral Nurses work in the community

International Women’s Day public lecture – 7 March 2019  Staffordshire University #Balance for Better – Walking the Tightrope   by Dr Laura Walton-Williams. A report from SI Nantwich members who went along to the lecture: Following on from her #ItsNotOK public lecture in 2018 the lecture aimed to ‘challenge bias and promote gender equality’ ‘Awareness of sexual abuse and sexual violence has increased significantly over the past few year but a report published in Dec 2018 indicates that public perceptions of the victims and perpetrators of these type of offences continue to be skewed by bias and gender stereotyping’ The lecture explored ‘how misconceptions relating to gender impact on the reporting and prosecution of sexual offences’ It was a very thought provoking talk covering a range of issues including how the use of language impacts on gender equality. Laura also managed to get the audience engaged through

Once again our meeting started with a delicious dinner for members and guests at the Hunters Lodge Hotel. It was followed by a fascinating and inspiring talk from Kay Carson from the Nantwich Job Club. She talked engagingly about how the Club works with those struggling with life, debts and getting into work.  She explained how her faith and strong sense of social injustice had led her to work with the group ‘Christians against Poverty’ who support and sponsor the Job Clubs. She encouraged listeners to think strategically: what ideas could they contribute to help organisations and businesses aid those who struggle to engage with society in the ‘usual’ way? Thanks to Kay for a most thought- provoking presentation.

Members braved a cold and snowy January evening to enjoy dinner followed by a most interesting talk from Tracey and Judith from the YMCA in Crewe about their parenting programmes. SI Nantwich made a donation to the Parenting Groups at Christmas which enabled the organisers to provide a number of jolly seasonal parties for their groups. SI Nantwich also donated some attractive hardback notebooks to help parents struggling to cope and organise their lives. Tracey told us about one mum who had found the notebook so useful it went everywhere with her! Members also examined the book that the YMCA use as the basis of their help sessions. Those of us with children might have found this useful ourselves!

January 2019 saw a very successful Bridge Drive held in aid of President Nancy’s 2 charities: Water Aid and the Food Bank (Trussell Trust). Held at Crewe Alex’s hospitality suite, the competitors enjoyed an afternoon of Bridge and a tea, served by members of the Club. Over £800 was raised for the Charities from entry fees and a raffle.