To all sister Soroptimists in Northern England
By the time that some of you will be reading this, I shall be well on my way to join members of S.I.Cockermouth & District for their 40th Charter Anniversary Lunch. It will be a wonderful occasion to start to resume face-to-face gatherings and I wish them well in their celebrations.
We start this Newsletter with a report from S.I. Sunderland on their celebrations for National Literacy Day on 8th September. “International Literacy Day has been celebrated each year on 8th September
since 1967. Part of UNESCO’s Sustainable Goal 4, one of its targets is to ensure all young people achieve literacy and numeracy and that adults, who lack these skills, are given the opportunity to acquire them. Across the world some 775 million people lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults are still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out. There is a clear connection between illiteracy and countries in severe poverty, and between illiteracy and prejudice against women. To mark the day and to celebrate Soroptimist International’s Centenary, S.I. Sunderland collected and donated 100 books each to, Hendon Library run by ‘Back on the Map’, Kayll Road Library run by Pallion Action Group and 200 books to Sunderland North Community Business Centre to help them start a Community Library in Downhill. Over 7 million British adults are illiterate. In England 31% of adults don’t read in their spare time. We are pleased to be able to play a small part in ensuring the resources needed to encourage reading are available easily and locally. We ended the day with a book sale, raffle and literature quiz at our supper evening raising
£175 in aid of Sunderland and Durham Royal Society for the Bind. The photograph above shows members browsing the book stall at the supper meeting. Four members entertained us by talking about their favourite book. It was good to meet face-to-face again. “
The photograph below shows Bob and Debbie from Pallion Action Group at Kayll Road Library receiving their donated books. We had a lovely festive tea time at S.I.Durham on 12th September and here is their report of their celebrations :
“ On the 12th of September, Joint Presidents of S.I.Durham, Sue Percival and Geraldine Hudson held a Garden Party at Sue’s home. Although the day was rather cold there was a very warm welcome and enough chairs and tables for everyone to be accommodated in Sue’s lovely garden. Food had been supplied by members to go with the warming cups of tea or coffee. Both 
Immediate Regional Past President Joyce Chesney and Regional President Christine attended and it was lovely to see some of Sue’s neighbours enjoying the afternoon too ! Apart from the food there was a Tombola, a book stall, plant stall and part of the 100 metres of silver coins collection. The afternoon was finished off with a piece of a magnificent cake, cut by Regional President Christine and marking 100 years of Soroptimism. The total made was in excess of £400. This will go with other monies collected to S.I. Durham’s Presidents’ Charity, The Rainbow Trust. This Trust is a children’s charity providing emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness. Future monies raised will go to a charity for Endometriosis. “
Cutting the cake by Regional President Christine with Sue Percival and Geraldine Hudson – the club’s Joint Presidents and hostesses. Soroptimist International have asked all clubs to have a CANDLE CEREMONY during the 10 days before the 100th Celebrations Anniversary date of 1st October. The 2021 theme for the International Day of Peace is “Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world”. What better wish could we have for our own brilliant future ? We are asked to light four candles ( one for S.I.; one for SIGBI; one for the U.K.; and one for your club).
There is more about this ceremony on the SIGBI website and clubs are being ask to share their wishes and pictures through the TEAM in the LAB. Please do use this opportunity to post your wishes and pictures on social media and tell more women about our global organisation.
To start this ceremony using candles, S.I. Middlesbrough have sent me their report on marking the International Day of Peace : S.I. Middlesborough marked the United Nations International Day of Peace on 21st September by coming together at the home of their Treasurer Pam Cooper. The Peace Candles were lit and Pam laid on a delicious buffet. They heard from Guest Speaker Hamida White, who talked about the situation in Afghanistan. Hamida left Afghanistan in the 1980’s and has made her home in the North East. She currently works for the Refugee and Asylum Team of the Red Cross in Stockton. She outlined the historic events that have provided the context for the current conflict, beginning with the creation of the Durand Line in 1893, a border between Afghanistan and Pakistan established by British
Diplomat Mortimer Durand as a buffer zone between British and Russian interests in the region. Hamida spoke movingly of the plight of the Afghan people who have suffered at the hands of successive regimes, imposed as a result of other powerful nations seeking to serve their own interests by trying to appropriate Afghanistan’s mineral resources. When asked about the future, Hamida replied that sadly she holds out little hope, explaining that it had always been her dream to take her own children to Afghanistan one day to show them her roots, but she now believes that this can never happen. Everyone shared her concerns for the future and her fears for those women who will be denied the right to education, independence and political freedom as a result of the Islamic extremism practiced by the Taliban. Hamida’s talk was well received, with members commenting that they had learned so much. The club members pledged to continue playing their small part in making refugees welcome, particularly on this International Day of Peace. “Walk with Peace and conquer the world with Love”.
S.I.Darlington & District reported in a previous Newsletter on their “Green T-Shirt” project with Fairtrade. There was a photograph of the back of the T-Shirt with a ‘wait and see’ caption before revealing the front design. Here is the update of the finished result – and very vivid it is too ! “During the summer, a small work party of Darlington members upcycled a T-Shirt supplied by Fairtrade in time for a special fashion show in Reading at the beginning of the Great Big Green Week ( 18th to 25th September ). Following a brain-storming session, they came up with the idea of illustrating the carbon footprint of plastic. 
They used lots of small pieces of non-recyclable plastic, which were stitched and glued across a black footprint to spell out CO2 ( the carbon footprint of plastic – LDPE or PET Polyethylene is about 6Kg
CO2 per Kg of plastic.). Jean Earle appliquéd the SIGBI logo and the name of the club on the back of the T-Shirt and a short video was submitted explaining the aims of Soroptimism and why this design
had been chosen.
Last Saturday, there was a live-streaming of the show on Facebook, and this is to be followed up with two short films which were professionally shot. During the Great Big Green Week, Darlington members have signed a petition supporting Fairtrade farmers and workers with a challenge to politicians at COP26 : Be Fair with your Climate Promise”. On Saturday 25 September, members are visiting the local recycling plant for a guided tour and hope to get the answers to many questions. This photograph is of a model wearing S.I. Darlington’s T-Shirt on the live-streaming on Facebook of the Green Fashion Show. Although this Regional Newsletter is not normally about business matters, I have been urged to remind you about registration for our SIGBI Conference and General Meeting on 29th to 30th October – being a virtual presentation from Llandudno. Because of the considerable IT/Database issues at SIGBI, there have been difficulties in delegates being able to register for this Conference. It has been decided NOT to impose a late booking fee and this means that from now until 22nd October, members can register at the Standard Rate of £70.00. At present only 14 out of our 246 members in SI Northern England have registered and I have had an appeal from Chair of Conference Anne MacDonald OBE to encourage more of you to attend.
I am assured that there are many changes from last year and the programme details are on the SIGBI web-site and include workshops; Panel session; Exhibition space; twitter wall and a Gala Concert. Our own SINE member Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is a Panel Member – talking about her involvement in the recently enacted Domestic Violence laws. Other sessions might also inspire you to think of new ways of attracting new members. You do not have to sit through all of this virtual Conference in one sitting but can access any session for the following 2 weeks after the event. Also please don’t forget
that you can sign up to attend the General Meeting FREE of charge. I hope that within your clubs you are discussing the Resolution that needs a vote from each Club voting delegate.
As the days shorten and the weather turns more Autumnal, I do hope that you all keep well and engaged in your club activities. We are approaching the new Tree Planting season so I look forward to more reports about the range of our Commemorative 100th Anniversary activities.
The next Regional Newsletter will be on Sunday 10 October.
In friendship – your Regional President – Christine Lumsdon