S.I. Cockermouth up and running with a range of activities for this year.   Libraries, Orange Cafe’s, Community Hub meeting at Whitehaven and lighting up the harbour to name just a few. And Busy at St Bees – with a Knicker Party in conjunction with the Mothers Union.    Video – Link showing that special event

Peace Offerings No. 5_Nov 2025:    Full PDF Newsletter   Peace Offerings, to coincide with the first day of the 16 days of activism. It’s an extended edition to explore the theme of the 16 days  this year – cyber violence.  I’ll be posting on Facebook every day using the very useful material provided by SIGBI. However, if anybody has anything else relating to the 16 days that you’d like me to post, just send me the details and I’ll sort it.  Please share the posts with your contacts too.

President Pam Turner, SI Newcastle upon Tyne welcomed Guest Speaker Susan Dungworth, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner to their 88th Charter lunch. Susan’s them was  “Keeping Women and Girls Safe”. President Pam thanked Shirley Hallam Gould President, SINE, Susan Dungworth, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Anne Garvie, Past Federation President and Katherine Waller Toastmaker for joining her to celebrate the 88th. Charter Lunch.

We welcomed two Regional Presidents (Northern England and Yorkshire) to this year’s Literary Lunch.  Also 80 other Soroptimists, members of other organisations, friends and family. R.J. (Ross) Frazer and his wife Steph shared the history of Frazer’s Fables: books which inspire young children to develop a love of books and reading. About £600 was raised for Family Help, which runs Darlington’s Women’s Refuge. Link Darlington web page with full story

Wonderful afternoon had by all celebrating with SI Middlesborough at Acklam Hall – 18th October 2025.

Lovely message from the Baby Bank “From: Helen Young  Sent: 02 October 2025 08:14 To: sitynemouth@gmail.com <sitynemouth@gmail.com> Subject: Thanks for your donation Dear Soroptomists, Thank you very much for your donation of nappies to the Baby Bank on Monday. Every packet of nappies will help a family in need. Within half an hour of your donation arriving on Monday, we had distributed six of those packets. Your support is much appreciated. Thank you very much. Helen Young On behalf of the Baby Bank at St John’s Church Percy Main Revd Helen Young Assistant Curate, St Peter’s Balkwell and St John’s Percy Main

I always enjoy attending the Darlington Literary Lunch. The venue is at Headlam Hall hotel, and is always an entertaining day. Lunch for me was roast pork, followed by sticky toffee pudding. These are annual events and are held to raise money for Darlington’s charity fund. The speakers are always interesting. Most often they are authors, but this year we were treated to a talk, and demonstration, by an illustrator: Liz Million. She stressed that drawing should be fun and relaxing. Often the process of creating a drawing is more enjoyable that seeing the finished product. Liz said that she will often do more than 20 drafts before she is happy with what will be the final design. It was a most informative talk and involved practical work as well. We all drew a penguin!

I was delighted to be able to attend the lunch at the Copthorne hotel, Newcastle in order to celebrate the 86th ‘birthday’ of SI Newcastle upon Tyne. It was especially significant as the lunch was on the same day as the signing of the Charter for the Club. It was very fitting to be at the lunch as my first engagement ‘this time around’, as it is the oldest club in the region (1937). SI Newcastle has therefore been ‘mother to a number of clubs, including my own (SI Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, and District) It was pleasing to note that although they do not have as many members as in the past, they continue to do a lot of work within the community. In the year to November 2023, they had submitted 15 Programme Focus Report Forms: demonstrating that the target set by SIGBI the

For attendees of the convention in Dublin, in my opinion this was a better, slicker, and in many ways more relevant event. It kept to time and while I’m not a fan of sitting for more than one hour at a time, no session was longer than two hours. Also, the auditorium was smaller and so it was easier to both see and hear the speakers. After the Opening ceremony, we were told that Adam Henson was unable to attend. Shirley and I had noticed a man in jeans and T shirt, who looked a bit scruffy to be honest. It turned out to be Monty Halls, the replacement speaker. What a marvel he turned out to be: a former Marine, now a marine biologist who has featured in a number of TV programmes including ‘Great Barrier Reef’,’ Great Escape’, and ‘My family and the

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