REGIONAL PRESIDENT PAM’S MESSAGE
Good morning sister Soroptimists,
I hope that you have all enjoyed your Easter festivities and have recovered from eating chocolate eggs ! Or perhaps you have been less indulgent, and as suggested by Editor Christine in the previous newsle6er, eaten boiled eggs instead. I used to love boiling eggs in onion skins to produce rich brown eggs of various shades, as well as painting them with faces. Do young children still do these decorated boiled eggs ?
Fortunately the weather has been bright and sunny for most of the Easter holiday which has been a change for this time of year when schools are closed. It is wonderful to see colour in the gardens and parks with all the Spring flowers, magnolias and blossom. I understand that the Japanese blossom at Alnwick Castle Gardens is beautiful this year so I hope to manage to visit in the next couple of days.
Some of you may remember the short piece I wrote about Dr Mo Mowlem in my last message, so it was lovely to receive an email from Kath Sainsbury of S.I. Middlesbrough who had links with Mo. Below is the email she sent me and with her permission I include it as a follow-up :
“Good morning and Happy Easter,
Many thanks for another interesting edition of the Newsletter.
I particularly enjoyed reading President Pam’s piece on the late Mo Mowlem. I have been a member of the Labour Party since the 1970’s and remember campaigning for Mo. In those days we didn’t have a slick, sophis8cated PR team and I can remember working on a friend’s kitchen table to hand paint the Labour rose on a home-made sign for Mo’s campaign headquarters !!
The same friend later went on to work for Mo as a Caseworker. Her Constituency Office was on Redcar seafront next door to a Care Home for elderly people. My friend tells how self-effacing Mo was on one of her regular visits to meet the residents. When an elderly gentleman asked who she was, she replied simply “I’m your next door neighbour . “
Many thanks Kath for the additional insight into a courageous but genuine person.
As I have indicated in previous messages I plan to have a number of Exceptional Business Women at my President’s Event on 25th June. One young women who I had hoped to include was Amy Bray from Cumbria but unfortunately she has another commitment that day. However you may have seen her on a recent programme of Countryfile in Cornwall working with school children to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the seas. She has always been interested in outdoor activities and the environment and is now a marine biologist.
Amy was impressed with the concept of plastic free shopping and has set up two shops, Another Weigh, in Penrith and in Kendall to help reduce waste at low cost to customers and to our planet. Customers bring their own containers, fill them and pay by weight then bring back to refill. The shops stock a wide range of products from cereals to straws and from cleaning products to oils and vinegars. All profits go to an educational charity, Another Way, which has supported the planting of 27,000 trees and hedgerows in Ma6erdale Valley over the past 2.5 years and the giving of talks to schools.
Amy was nominated Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s first Nature Hero in January 2022 and was awarded the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award in October 2021.
On Thursday 21st April, it was the birthday of a very Exceptional Woman, Queen
Elizabeth II was 96 years old. A lovely portrait was released to mark the occasion which shows Queen Elizabeth standing between her two white fell ponies Bybeck Nightingale and Bybeck Katie. Apparently the photograph was taken in the grounds of Windsor Castle in March.
Despite admitting to feeling very tired and exhausted ager a bout of COVID-19 in February she has continued with some of her engagements and is an inspiration to us all.
The Platinum Jubilee, to be held at the beginning of June, marks her 70 years on the throne. This makes her the longest reigning British monarch and the longest-serving female head of state in history.
Are any of you planning to do something for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee ? Please do let Editor Christine know if you are.
Our thoughts are still with the people of Ukraine, particularly in Eastern Ukraine.
Take care and look ager yourselves
Pam
Regional President
Editor : Thank you Pam for reminding us all of the colour and happiness of Spring when our world is fresh and new and we are looking forward to a warm and enjoyable summer season.
Newsletter
I appreciate that our past few weeks have been focussed on Clubs and their Annual General Meetings. I hope that these have all gone well and that every effort has been made to engage with all members to ensure that our world-wide organisation to support women and girls is able to continue its work. It would be very good to hear of plans for the coming year, in particular those events or projects that promote our aims and projects to raise our public profile and also attract new members. I am beginning to wonder if I should reduce the frequency of this Newsletter to once a month, but then I reassure myself that once the new club year gets underway that I will have too many submissions for inclusion in each edition.
So, please do keep news and reports coming !
My only Club report for this Newsletter is from S.I. Carlisle who continue to be busy with existing projects and with a new ‘heart felt’ response.
Update on Women’s Refuge Project : April 2022
It is been so interesting to read, in the latest Newsletter, how the members of Penrith Club are supporting the women’s refuge in Carlisle. We are always encouraged by Programme Action to work with other clubs on the same project, and we have done that, often together. Peter and Sharon came to our club in December, when we gave them Christmas presents for the residents in the hostels for both men and women.
Now, just like Penrith, we are concentrating on those who are able to move out into their own accommodation. Sharon suggested that we might like to donate an electric kettle, to enable everyone to make a comforting cup of tea on their arrival at their new address. We decided to supply a bag, containing the kettle, together with everything else that is needed. The photograph (below ) shows Jess Sinclair with the contents on the table, tea bags, coffee, long life milk, sugar and a packet of biscuits, together with two mugs and several teaspoons. Bethan took the photo on her phone during a club meeting when they were being shown to a member who was unable to attend in person, but who had joined us on Zoom.
We hope to continue supplying the bags for at least a year, to everyone who needs them. Sometimes the residents know in advance when they will be given their own accommodation, but at other times that have no notice at all. This means having one bag in stock at all times. That way, the guarantee for the kettles won’t be running out before they are being used.
Members of S.I. Carlisle have been busy knitting !
On hearing of a request on Facebook about knitted hearts for friends and family of people in the Intensive Care Unit, S.I. Carlisle were delighted to deliver 3 dozen to the Cumberland Infirmary this week. The pattern is attached – just in case Clubs have a similar project near them.
- and here is access to the attached knitting pattern : fluffandfuzz@googlemail.com
- once on this web page, follow the changing images on the front page until the Hearts picture comes up and then open to read the full pattern.
OTHER NEWS :
The REGIONAL VIRTUAL COFFEE GATHERING is on Saturday 7th May from 10.30am – BUT it will be for a shorter Fme of about 40 minutes on Zoom as our regular Zoom host is away. If you would like to join us then please contact Margaret Ayton for a link to be sent to you. margaretayton40@gmail.com
Everyone is welcome for a chat! SINE website : Bethan tells me that the video of our recent Regional meeting speaker Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson is now available to view from the members area on our SINE website Members will need the password to access this.
EDITOR : I hesitate to include the password here as this Newsletter is passed on to other interested women, some of whom are past members and some who are ‘friends’. I cannot guarantee that this Newsletter is ONLY read by members – so if you need to be reminded of the password, then please ask your club secretary or direct to Bethan our Web site administrator.
Looking forward to receiving lots of club news – look after yourselves
In friendship, your JIPP and Editor Christine email: christinemlumsdon@gmail.com