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November 2017
This is my final newsletter (printable “President’s News 03” here) and I must say the year has gone very quickly. I have enjoyed getting around the region to meet up with you all and I will report here on the events that have happened over the last couple of months.
In September 20 people, members and Soroptimisters, and 4 dogs went on the Regional Walk from Sizergh Castle. Rain had been forecast for the day but we enjoyed a really pleasant walk with only a few spots of rain. It was very muddy underfoot in places but most of us had the correct footwear! After a short climb we had beautiful views to the North and South and then walked across fields to end up by the river where we sat on the riverbank for a picnic lunch.
The following day I should have been at Windermere’s Charter Lunch but unfortunately this was cancelled so my apologies to the members for not managing to visit you all during my year as President. I know you have had a busy year and congratulate you on all the work and fundraising you do.
The Morecambe and Heysham club had a Beetle Drive for their Friendship Evening this year. This proved to be an evening of fun and friendship and as always the food was delicious. I won a prize on the raffle but the prize for the Beetle drive went to two members, including the Regional President from South Lancashire. I was delighted that the raffle and the sale of preserves and apples raised funds for the Meru Garden Project.
In October we held the final charity fundraiser of the year. This was a fashion show, with wine and canapes, held at the Crofters Hotel. The clothes were from Kitty Brown Boutique of Carnforth and they donated 10% of the sales to our charity. The models, who were from SI Grange and SI Blackburn, did an excellent job and everyone enjoyed browsing the items of clothing and accessories. We raised £500 for the Meru Women’s Garden project.
I was invited to the Grange over Sands Charter event, which was Afternoon tea at Hampsfell House Hotel. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed driving up to this gorgeous area of the region. It is always lovely to go to these events chatting with members, often meeting some for the first time and then there is the bonus of a delicious lunch or tea and this day was no exception. Lemon posset, sandwiches, scones and cakes, yum!
The following day there was an equally delicious meal at the Rishton and Great Harwood Charter event at the Foxfields Hotel, which was only a quick trip along the road for me. Once again a very pleasant evening and another few pounds put on over this weekend!
The last Charter event of the year was Rossendale’s lunch at the Sykeside Hotel. This is an area that I know quite well as I had worked in the Rossendale Valley for many years and it was one of the first places I heard about Soroptimist International. Members of a Soroptimist club were raising funds for a charity by delivering afternoon teas to offices on the estate where I worked. This just proves that going out and about around your area gets the name of Soroptimist known. I forgot to take any photos on the day but after another enjoyable lunch I was presented with a very unusual plant so this is why that picture is in the collection.
I attended two Friendship evenings the following week. Preston held a very interesting evening with Paul Dee entertaining us with songs and tales from his life in the entertainment world. He had us singing along to some old favourites from our pasts. More calories were consumed and there were so many prizes on the raffle I won two! The proceeds were donated once again to Meru.
On a very wet and miserable evening outside I had a very warm welcome from the members of Lancaster who were having an Estee Lauder beauty demonstration. As well as learning about how we should be applying our beauty products we learned that a member of the Lauder family started the pink ribbon campaign. As always there was a lovely supper and I won another raffle prize.
Last week I attended the Federation conference in Cardiff and an enjoyable few days was had by all. There were some excellent speakers and as always the reports on projects were extremely interesting. Congratulations to Grange over Sands for winning a Best Practice Award for their Singing for Memory project, a very worthwhile project and a well-deserved award. Congratulations also to Sue Biggs who was installed as Federation President and to Maureen Howarth who takes over from me for the coming year. My very best wishes to you both for the next year.
Well, the time has come for me to step down. I have had a wonderful year and I hope you have too. Thank you for all your support and good wishes and also for raising funds for my chosen charity, the Meru Women’s Garden Project. Well done to all of you for all the great work you do, it never ceases to amaze me the amount and variety of projects you cover.
Many thanks and best wishes. Angie