We welcomed prospective new member, Kay W, to our meeting. One of the decisions to be made was quite a fun one. It was which charities to support with the £1,224.96 in the Programme Action Fund. A whopping £345 was added to it on Saturday, February 17th, when our Club Secretary hosted a coffee morning and lunch event. The delicious food and fun activities were greatly enjoyed by the attendees. There was also a large collection of clothing, shoes and mobile phones for the Great North Air Ambulance and this will all be collected next Wednesday by their van. In addition, we must thank Janet Heal (Past member and our 70th President) for her very generous donation of 10 SUITCASES full of coats and jackets which are also going to the GNAA.   We discussed possible alternative venues for our future club meetings if the

Thursday September 28th, Umme, from the Angelou Centre in Newcastle, spoke on the subject of forced marriage. Umme is the Executive Director of the centre. She said that forced marriage is a culturally specific form of violence and is a way to control women’s behaviour and lives. It is a way to preserve cultural values from the country of origin. Girls rescued from forced marriages are often at risk of exploitation as they find it difficult living outside their family. Bounty hunters can be employed by the families to bring them home. With the changes to the law, girls are often reluctant to criminalise their families by reporting attempts to take them abroad for marriage, to the police. Further information about the centre’s work can be found on the Angelou Centre website: http://angelou-centre.org.uk/

On Thursday July 27th, Andrea Perrett and Sue Pearce who are the Co – CEOs of Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland came to talk to SI Newcastle upon Tyne members about their organisations work. They left us with a number of useful documents and contact details: http://tynesidercc.org.uk/ 0191 2220272 www.rctn.org.uk            

On Thursday, May25th, Rosemary Jenkinson who is the Regional Ambassador for the SIGBI Meru Garden Project in Kenya, visited our club to update us with the latest developments.  Rosemary, who is a member of SI Sunderland, reminded us of the project’s origins and of the need for Soroptimists International’s involvement. The purpose of this project is to: ·         To ensure women and girls who are leading households have food security ·         To improve environmental sustainability ·         To ensure economic, empowerment and employment for women ·         To enable girls to complete their education ·         To offer both formal and informal agricultural learning opportunities To reduce the possibility of child exploitation Meru County in Kenya has a largely rural population of 136,000. HIV/AIDs are prevalent in the region and many families are headed by women and children. Life is hard for women and children in Meru: 41%

S.I. Newcastle’s 80th AGM Tuesday, April 11th                    After the reading of the Soroptimist Peace Pledge from the last Glasgow SI Convention  and the Roll Call, Joint President Kath’s first job was to induct Laura Steel as a most welcome new member.                      Next, Jean Ward (who was transferring from S.I. Nottingham) was welcomed to our club.  After the Officers’ reports, we voted for the Club Officers. Jill Smith was elected President, Vera Baird QC Vice President, Christine Lumsdon Secretary, Christine Lowthian Programme Action Officer, Margaret Ayton Membership Officer and  Vera Baird QC as Regional Council Representative. Chris Jones remained as Treasurer,  Lis Graham as Communications Officer, Gill Davison as Organisational and Development Manager and Margaret Ayton as Website Coordinator remained in post. The AGM concluded with President Jill’s address.              

On Thursday October 27th, the New Start Bags Newcastle upon Tyne Soroptimists and other clubs in the Northern region had collected were presented to Detective Inspector Claire Wheatley of Northumbria Police. She spoke on the subject of her work with trafficked people. She described the problems the police have with gaining the trust of the trafficked people. She explained that the clothes they were wearing reminded them of the trauma they had experienced. The contents of the New Start bags were a very vital part in helping them settle into their new lives. Often there are tears when they see the bags as they realise that other people care for them. It was a ‘light bulb’  moment as they were beginning to feel  safe and valued. Eighteen bags were handed over and four other clubs were involved:  S.I. Durham, S.I. Darlington, S.I. Tynedale and S.I.