Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, We have experienced a week of varied weather - rain, [lots of it,] strong winds, snow and ice and occasional clear, blue skies. Sadly, again, some areas have seen severe flooding, with evacuation from homes being exceptionally problematic with social distancing etc. I really hope that you are all safe and have been able to keep dry? This week also saw the inauguration of the new President of the United States in a ceremony on Capitol Hill, Washington, on Wednesday. As I watched on television, I was struck by some words spoken by the young lady Laureate - Amanda Gorman - from her poem The Hill We Climb: When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid The new dawn blooms as we free it For there is always light, if we are brave enough to see it If

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, I imagine it has been a hard week for many of you with the current restriction of movement and very little good news in the World. It is frightening to listen to the increasing death and infection rates and the new strains of the virus in South America and Portugal. The safest place is definitely behind your front door!   On the plus side, I am hearing of quite a few of our members who have had their first vaccination, and some have even had the second one also! I hope those that have, did not suffer any major side effects and will have a sense of relief that they will soon be immune to COVID-19. #WhoIsShe? Another of our remarkable Soroptimists is being celebrated with the latest 12 women on the SIGBI.org website – the late Her Honour Judge Myrella Cohen

Good Morning Sister Soroptimists It would have been good to begin my first message of 2021 with some joyful news about recovery from the Pandemic; sadly, the situation this week is probably worse now than last March when I commenced sending these weekly messages! Nobody can be unaware of the seriousness of this latest Lockdown and the frightening daily infection rates which have topped 60,000. To all of you I send my sincere wishes that 2021 will eventually turn out to be better, brighter and healthier than 2020 has been, although it certainly may not look this way now. Do stay safe - we isolate now, so that when we gather again - nobody is missing! CLUB NEWS SI Penrith and District have more news about their Hedge Planting in December, which almost did not happen! Pat Newsham has sent a photograph and description of

AND THE WINNER IS..................! Thank you to those members who submitted photographs of their pets decked in Orange for our SOROPTI-PET competition, and to the long suffering pets! A panel of four judges considered and marked the twenty one entries which included cats, dogs, a rabbit, two guinea pigs, a hen, two donkeys, a hippo [not alive] and a 90 year old tortoise!!  All of them are cute and adorable but the winner was TILLEY belonging to Bethan Hill-Gorst of SI Carlisle.  The judges felt that she epitomised the spirit of Soroptimism, in her Orange outfit, with all the appropriate slogans. And that look says it all.........."REALLY MUM?"! ORANGE Some additions to ORANGE productions left over from the 16 Days of Activism VAWG from SI Middlesbrough.  Kathy Warrick's Orange Teddy; Margaret Clark's Orange Food [3] and Carol Singer, who makes the best Orange PomPoms! 

Carlisle - Homeless Women's Hostel Link to report by Jess Sinclair. Soroptimist International of Northern England TWENTY TWENTY HAS BEEN THE YEAR TO CHALLENGE ALL OF US OUR REGIONAL CLUBS FACED IT HEAD ON WITHOUT ANY FUSS SOROPTIMISTS NORTH EAST DID OUR VERY VERY BEST WE MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST CLUB MEMBERS HAVE DONE US PROUD DURING THIS CRAZY LOCKDOWN THEY’VE KNITTED, SEWED ETC AND HAVE SUPPORTED THEIR LOCAL TOWN WE’VE SEEN ANGELS, TEDDIES HATS AND TWIDDLE MUFFS GALORE WE’LL ALL BE READY FOR NEXT YEAR TO KNIT AND SEW EVEN MORE SOME US MADE FACE MASKS, WASH BAGS AND PPE SOME OF US EVEN MANAGED TO MAKE AN AFTERNOON TEA SOME CLUBS PLANTED TRESS AND PACKETS OF SEEDS EVERYONE WAS GRATEFUL FOR OUR GENEROUS DEEDS LET’S HELP SAVE OUR PLANET BY PLANTING MORE TREES WHEN THESE TREES FLOWER

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, I have been reflecting on the past twelve months and remembering that this time last year, we were looking forward and making preparations for the festive season, much as we are now, but how different is the world today? How innocent we were then, not knowing what we were to face in a few short months? New words and phrases entered our everyday vocabulary, like 'flattening the curve', 'reducing the R rate', 'lockdown', 'PPE', 'social distancing', 'herd immunity' and every message ended with the words - Stay Safe! How we have been compelled to quickly learn new ways of communicating online - ZOOM, SKYPE, GoTo and TEAMS so that we could continue to exist as Soroptimist Clubs. I am proud that all of our Clubs are now meeting in one or other of these platforms and have been able to produce all

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters It is time to celebrate one of our SINE members who features in this month’s #WhoisShe – the nominated women whose contribution to Soroptimism and society is recorded in this remarkable list.  She is Margaret Alderson, a member of Tynemouth,Whitley Bay and District – a very special lady, who is known, respected and loved by all of us and whom I have looked up to as a Soroptimist role model since I first got involved in Regional matters back in the 1980’s. In 1988, when she became our Regional [then DU] President, I remember hearing her speak at the Charter Dinner of SI Newcastle upon Tyne – a speech which inspired me, beginning with the first lines of Dicken’s Tale of Two Cities – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, This week saw the beginning of the 16 Days of Action; I should not need to complete that sentence as you all know what the action is for!. I have been so impressed by the mass postings on Facebook and Twitter by Clubs in SINE - flooding the medium with ORANGE. There have been some innovative images and visions, well done to all of you. It was good to hear what three clubs are doing to promote this time at our Regional Council Meeting on GoTo yesterday. Thank you to all who attended. I was invited to join SI Newcastle upon Tyne Club's meeting this week and to hear their speaker, Niamh Stroud, a trainer for Domestic Violence Champions who work in the West End of Newcastle. You may remember that the Club provided the Champions with Hoodies and their project was

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, HELLO!     Yesterday was WORLD HELLO DAY, so I am greeting you with hello in some other languages: SALUT,   KONNICHIWA,  GUTEN TAG,  OLA,  CIAO,  YASSOU,  NAMASTE,  SALAAM! So here we are in the the third week of the second Lockdown and the eighth month of the Coronavirus Pandemic. I extend my very best wishes to all members of SINE and especially to those who are unwell, either at home or in hospital at this time.  On the plus side, there has been much promising news in the media this week, of several vaccines becoming ready, which gives us some hope there may be light at the end of a long tunnel!   CLUB NEWS Joint President Christine and I were invited to attend the Business Meeting of SI Durham on Monday last. We were impressed with the amount of Programme activities

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters. I have so much news for you this week;  since my email access was restored last Monday, I had a whole week of messages to catch up on and thank you so much to all those who have kept in touch. Indeed, the first item would have made an appropriate beginning for last week - Remembrance Sunday.  SI Middlesbrough members, Alwyn Kraus and Shirley Bond, have created beautiful knitted Poppy displays in their respective churches. Alwyn's Poppies in St Margaret's Church, Brookfield, Middlesbrough  and Shirley's, outside the lovely village church at Low Worsall [2]. Wonderful to see! Members of SI Middlesbrough have not been idle during the long days of isolation and embarked on a new and exciting project to research and publish a book - "OVERCOMING THE ODDS" , - brief biographies of 32 Women Scientists, which is published this week.