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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Regional President Pam’s Message Good Morning Sister Soroptimists, I hope you and your gardens all managed to cope with the hot weather!   Fortunately, I don’t think any of you in the Region have been placed on hosepipe bans yet although I realise some areas are badly affected by water shortages.   When I wrote my last message I only had space to mention some of the events during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee so indicated that I would address others in this message.  As already mentioned the weekend began on the Thursday with the Trooping of the Colour where the Prince of Wales took the salute on behalf of the Queen.  That evening the next major event was the lighting of more than 7,000 beacons across the UK and in a number of Commonwealth countries.  The Queen began lighting the principle beacon using the Commonwealth Nations Globe

Good Morning Sister Soroptimists. What a lot has happened since my last Message from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend at the beginning of June to my President’s Event last Saturday, 25th June. However, I am starting with my President’s Event.  It was wonderful to see so many Soroptimists face to face again with the majority of clubs represented.  The Programme for the day was planned deliberately to allow time for everyone to catch up with friends so there was a real buzz during the day.  As a continuation of my theme for the year “Exceptional Women” we had some excellent talks and discussions from four business women.  The first of these was Gail Gravett who gives Business Support and is a Mentor, as well as being a member of SI Penrith, and was an excellent facilitator for the day leading and directing the discussions. The other

REGIONAL PRESIDENT PAM’S MESSAGE  Good Morning Sister Soroptimists, Bunting and flags are now appearing along streets and in towns to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.  Seventy years as Queen of the United Kingdom is a remarkable achievement and as I said in a previous Message, she is an “Exceptional Woman”.  There have been a number of interesting TV programmes about the Queen, including unseen film footage and special events, and there will be more to come over the weekend. One of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations I enjoyed was the special Windsor Horse Show in the middle of May.  As well as a “gallop” through history as narrated by well known actors and actresses there were brilliant performances by service personnel from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.  The final procession of the Queen’s horses and ponies, including Lady Louise Windsor driving the Duke

REGIONAL  PRESIDENT PAM’s  MESSAGE  Good Morning Sister Soroptimists, The funeral of Elisabeth Elders,  a past Regional President,  was held on Thursday 5th May 2022 at St George’s United Reform Church in Morpeth.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend but I understand that the church was filled with family and friends.,  including a large number of Soroptimists.   The Service of Thanksgiving was a wonderful celebration of Elisabeth’s life with members of the congregation recounting serious and humorous tales which were a real tribute to a well-respected and admired lady who will be greatly missed. At S.I. Newcastle upon Tyne’s club meeting, we had a most interesting talk from Rie Pearson who has written a book entitled “Be Kind, No Excuses” for 14 year old girls.  It outlines stories about women who have suffered from domestic abuse but is aimed at recognising potential abusers such as stalkers

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

MESSAGE FROM REGIONAL PRESIDENT PAM  Good Morning Sister Soroptimists, I am starting my message for this edition remembering Elisabeth Elder,  a committed and long standing Soroptimist.  Sadly Elisabeth died on Thursday 7th April 2022,  aged 92 years. Although she held various club positions when a member of S.I. Morpeth  some of you will remember her as Regional President and Regional Organisation and Development Officer.  I became acquainted with Elisabeth when I joined S.I. Morpeth and discovered she had lived opposite my grandmother but we had other common interests as we had both studied at Northern Counties College in Newcastle and been volunteers at the Morpeth Citizen Advice Bureau.  Although we do not know the funeral arrangements at the moment, if anyone would like further details please contact Patricia Gatherum (email address patriciagatherum@yahoo.co.uk    or    phone No: 01670 517699 ). News headlines  -  Taliban U-Turn over Afghan