MESSAGE FROM REGIONAL PRESIDENT PAM
“Good Morning Sister Soroptimists,
It’s been an eventful couple of weeks since my last message.
My move back to Morpeth was finally completed on 17th February. Although I am sorry to leave Edinburgh and friends it is a relief to be settled in one place and I plan to visit Edinburgh quite regularly. In fact I was there on Friday to meet friends for lunch. All I have to do now is sort out the pile of boxes which are stacked away in a storage unit ! Many thanks to Christine, JIPP and Editor; for her best wishes on behalf of members for my life back in Morpeth as expressed in the previous Newsletter. They were greatly appreciated.
A major concern to us all is the plight of the people of Ukraine. As usual, I am sure Soroptimists across the Region will try to do what they can to relieve their situation if possible or at least give support to surrounding countries who are assisting the many refugees. The UN claims that over one million Ukrainians have lea their country. It is heart breaking to see the women and children being taken from the male members of their families to seek refuge in a strange country not knowing whether they will see them again.
On a lighter note, I was looking forward to joining SI Penrith & District’s Zoom meeting on Monday 21st February. Despite being all ready, even with my chain on, I wasn’t able to connect to their meeting and I also had problems with my phone so I was very sorry that we had to give it up as a bad job. However I do hope I will be able to link up with their members at another meeting.
A number of us from the Region enjoyed a very pleasant Sunday afternoon celebrating SI Tynemouth, Whitley Bay & District’s 75th birthday.
The event was perfect in every way – a wonderful Afternoon Tea, local singers providing entertainment at the beginning and end, a superb location made be6er by the bright sunny day looking onto to the clear sea and magnificent view of St Mary’s Lighthouse and a most interesting talk about the North Shields Heritology Project. This project aims to bring the rich heritage of the Fish Quay (1850 to 1980 ) to life using new
Technology, hence the trademark term ‘Heritology’ ( see www.heritology.com )
On Saturday, the day before the birthday celebrations, I attended a SIGBI Zoom meeting for Regional Presidents which was chaired by SIGBI President Cathy Corbridge. We had an interesting discussion, mainly about the recruitment and retention of members and Cathy explained some of the plans the Board had for the future and raising SIGBI’s profile. The session was valuable as a means of exchanging ideas and hearing what other Regions were doing.
Although it seems a long time ago, another eventful occasion was the end of the Winter Olympic Games on 20th February. After the men’s curling team won a silver medal it was a wonderful achievement by the women’s team when they beat Japan 10 – 3 to win a gold medal. Eve Muirhead, the Captain, and her team members Vicky Wright, Jan Dodds and Hailey Duff are four more exceptional women.
I’m sure there will be many more exceptional women during the Paralympics Winter
Games from 4th to 13th March so I look forward to Friday when the games begin. “
Take care and look after yourselves
Best wishes : President PAM
EDITOR : Thank you President Pam for these thoughts.
Members might like to see the updated posts on the SIGBI website under ‘news’ where the SIGBI Emergency Relief Fund has recorded its donation of £5,000 to the British Red Cross Ukrainian Appeal to help the refugees who are fleeing the armed conflict and those remaining in the Ukraine. PLUS a further £1,000 to S.I. of Europe’s Disaster Relief Fund. There is a list of links to various Appeals including the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee at www.dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal and this is currently match funded by the UK Government.
Newsletter
Now we move on to more celebratory news and the report on the 75th Anniversary of S.I. Tynemouth, Whitley Bay & District club.
“On the afternoon of Sunday 27th February 2022, our club held an Afternoon Tea event in the St Mary’s Suite at Spanish City, Whitley Bay. Members from across the region and families and friends, 95 in total, were greeted with a repertoire of Geordie music and songs from ukulele band ‘The Singing Hinnies’, three players from the larger Bay ukulele group. 
This set the tone for what truly became a much needed celebration to raise our spirits in the aftermath of the pandemic and in the face of continued hardship across the nation and shocking events across the world.
Displays and leaflets showed the Club’s history and Programme Action over the years and what we’re doing right now to keep on delivering : twinning toilets, supporting women and children fleeing violence, bringing people together, being good neighbours and friends, and, helping communities to care for some of the most vulnerable both here and overseas who find it hard to have their voices heard. We’ve come a long way in those 75 years but we know there is still much to do.
Each table was decorated with a stunning lighthouse and flower arrangements crafted by club member Linda Johnson.
Gifts for each guest were a box of chocolate pistachio fudge made by Joint President Anne and a bookmark portraying a photograph of St Mary’s Lighthouse, taken when lit orange during the 16 Days of Activism, taken by Pat Jefferson’s husband Tim and printed by Newcastle Building Society.
Joint Presidents Anne and Sue welcomed guests and gave a brief history of the club before the delicious afternoon tea was served while Whitley Bay sparkled in glorious Spring sunshine. We enjoyed friendship and conversation, sharing our experiences as Soroptimists and sisters, reminding ourselves of why we do what we do. It was a room filled with people who understand the importance of not sitting back in the face of need but of stepping up to the plate and doing whatever we can, however small that action might be, to make a difference.
Our fabulous guest speakers came from the North Shields Heritology Project, a project that works with young people to help them celebrate their local history and identities and build the skills in storytelling through technology. The anti-slavery movement and abolitionism had thrived in North Shields in the 1800’s. They reminded us that it had been two Quaker women from Newcastle who had bought the freedom of slave Frederick Douglass. He became the most famous black man of his time, a great friend to Abraham Lincoln and a leader of the movement, coming several Rmes to speak in this area. One of the project’s volunteers movingly shared the words of a pupil they had worked with while making their documentary about Douglass’s life : “But this was years ago. Why are we still talking about slavery now ? “ Why indeed ?
The event ended with three moving songs performed by Enigma Choir, a small group who belong to the larger Tyneside A Capella choir. Their song themes, particularly ‘lean on me’ reminded us that, as Soroptimists, we can support women and girls and communities in need as well as each other – together we are better.
Closing remarks from Joint Presidents Anne and Sue included grateful thanks to everyone who participated in this uplifting event – musicians, speakers, choir, guests, members and organisers, as well as special guests Regional President Pam Turner and Elected Mayor for North Tyneside, Norma Redfearn.
Norma is a keen supporter of our club and ended the event with these final remarks : “What I love about you lot is that you don’t just sit on your hands. You roll up your sleeves and get on and do it”
Our next report comes from S.I. Penrith and District who have been busy in these sometimes quieter winter months:
Fashion Show : 3rd March 2022
Soroptimist International Penrith and District held a Fashion Show at Hackthorpe Village Hall raising funds for Charities supporting victims of Domestic Abuse.
The show was put on by the Kitty Brown Boutique from Carnforth in Lancashire. We last held a Fashion Show showcasing her products in 2018. We were a little nervous about how such an event would be received after all the COVID restrictions and wondered if we would be well supported.
We had four models, a member of Penrith Club ( Gail Graveg); an Associate Member ( Carol Rudd ); a friend of one of the members (Kathy Sharrock ) and a lady fairly new to Penrith ( Jane Denny ).
They each wore 3 different, but complete outfits, which included accessories such as handbags, scarves, jewellery etc all supplied by the Boutique.
We had our display boards showing Programme Action work that we have been doing since our relaunch, which of course included Domestic Abuse and also photos about our winning the ‘Reach for the Skies’ regional Award.
We need not have worried about the turn out for the Fashion Show as the Hall was full with just over 80 attendees and we will have raised in the region of £800 profit on the evening. “
The photograph above shows Associate Member Carol Rudd on the cat walk wearing one of the 3 chosen outfits for her.
S.I. Penrith & District are planning further events to raise the profile of projects connected to Domestic Abuse. On Monday 21st March , in partnership with the Homeless Refuge at Carlisle they are hosting an open meeting at Penrith Methodist Church rooms at 7.30pm. The speakers will be Mr Keith Scog ( Local Coordinator) and Mr Peter Rhodes ( Homeless accommodation Manager of the Carlisle Refuge ) .
The Refuge takes in quite a number of women and children who find themselves without a home from the Eden Valley area and the Penrith Club have been giving donations of various items to help in the work carried out there.
At the recent Fashion Show they took the opportunity of advertising this event by putting flyers on seats about the open meeting.
Thinking about all the troubled peoples in the Ukraine and surrounding countries, I finish this Newsletter with two further quotes from the inspirational book “Big Panda and Tiny Dragon” by James Norbury ( its still in the Sunday Times Best Sellers list !)
“I want to change the world”, says Tiny Dragon.
“Start with the next person who needs your help”, replied Big Panda.
– and together we send our support and thoughts from all our SINE members to the people of Ukraine . Please do seek out your local collecting centre and see what you can donate to help with this crisis as they seem to be well organised and very specific about what items would be useful.
“The path ahead looks difficult”, said Big Panda.
“No matter how hard it gets”, said Tiny Dragon, “We’ll face it together”.
I wish you every success with your projects and activities on International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8th March – and please do send me your reports and photographs for the next edition of this regional Newsletter ( number 82 ) on Sunday 20 March. As always, photographs sent separately as jpegs work well for me.
FUTURE DATES :
Saturday 19 March : SINE REGIONAL COUNCIL MEETING – sign in (virtually ) from 10.0am and prompt start at 10.30am. President Pam’s speaker to continue her theme of ‘Exceptional Women’ will be Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson who will speak immediately after the business reports on the agenda are completed. Please do make sure your email link is registered through your club to Regional Secretary Joan Heckels to attend this meeting.
Saturday 9th April : SINE virtual Regional Coffee Gathering : from 10.30am to 11.30am. All are welcome. Just contact Margaret Ayton to receive your Zoom link at margaretayton40@gmail.com before the day.
As A.G.M.s approach – with every best wish for success in your club plans for next year, In friendship – your Editor and JIPP
Christine Lumsdon
email: christinemlumsdon@gmail.com