Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, How do I begin to say ‘thank you'  for what happened on Friday, my birthday?  Well, it was the most wonderful day with so many cards with lovely messages, E cards, flowers and gifts.  I even received a video message from SI Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and District, with members singing Happy Birthday to me! That was incredible, thank you. I have my suspicions that you had all been made aware that it was my birthday!  Thank you to Anne Gunning who posted to me one of her NHS Teddies, as well as an ORANGE Face Mask and insisted I took a selfie. So here it is! [1] Thank you to all of you who wished me well on a day which turned out to be full of surprises! I feel truly blessed to have such amazing Soroptimist friends! Your Regional Officers

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, This week has seen International Friendship Day,  National Poetry Day [of this, more later] as well as the UN International Day of Non Violence and Peace,  National Bookshop Day and the International Day for Older People.  With reference to the latter, I have just written a Birthday Card to a lady who will become 105 on 8 October. I don't know this lady and have never met her, but she is in a Nursing Home close to where I live and the staff have appealed on Facebook for people to send birthday cards to her since there are no visitors allowed and they want to make her birthday extra special. It is hoped that she will receive 105 cards! I rather think she will get many more from the comments on Facebook.  Happy Birthday, Florence @ Wellburn House! Since our Virtual

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, I am thrilled every week to receive your messages, sometimes with news of what you are doing, or if you just make contact to say 'hello' or to comment on something I have reported. Maureen Dixon, an Associate Member from Penrith, messages me every week saying how much she enjoys reading my message with her morning coffee! Last week she told me it had to wait until later as Blencathra was calling! Indeed! - the photograph she sent me  was spectacular showing the Lakeland view in all its Autumn glory, I am happy to share it with you. Thank you Maureen I received a delightful letter this week from Norah Thornthwaite of SI Tynedale giving me news of her service activities in Hexham. Norah has been involved with the West Northumberland Food Bank for about seven years and is now voted

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, In a week which sees the reversal of the easing of restrictions on gatherings of more than six people, it was perhaps timely that my own Club, Stockton-on-Tees held its first face to face meeting on Tuesday - a Summer Garden Party at President Sue's house.    We were so pleased to be together again and enjoy the lovely food which Sue had provided. The chat never stopped! In addition we were able to distribute the Soroptimist Diaries ordered, and the tubes of Smarties for twenty pence donations for our charity fund; present her Past President's badge to Margaret Wall and also to raise £175 for Ocular Melanoma, [OcuMelUK]  by the generosity of members, both those who attended and some who were not able to attend. Also Julie gave Sue her mini President made for her during Lockdown. The sun shone

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters We have enjoyed a much better week of weather than the previous week when storms Ellen and Francis gave us much heavy rain, strong winds and lower temperatures. I do feel though, that mornings are beginning to feel quite Autumnal and Horse Chestnut trees are most certainly changing colour and dropping their conkers [Good for deterring spiders!] On Tuesday, I drove to Scarborough to pick up Margaret Wall, who had been holidaying there for a week. The Yorkshire Moors were looking magnificent with the purple of the heather just starting to show - in a couple of weeks it will be a spectacular journey. This week I have received some further information from Elspeth Robinson of SI Darlington about her charity the Kumi Community Foundation in Uganda, which I am happy to share with you.  Elspeth recommends we visit their website

Link to: One Village At a Time Information files: Publicity details Project Details Village Water Website Hand cream for Gosforth Care Homes Hi There Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters, Congratulations to Barbara Brown, SI Darlington, whose entry to THE BIG STORY has been placed 5th equal of 100 entries. Barbara allowed me to read her story "HOLIDAY IN NICE 1960" - her childhood reminiscences of friendships which last. She will be happy to share it with you, should you wish to see it, if you email her on -  brbmbrown19@icloud.com In the next few months, the winning stories will be recorded by celebrities and Barbara has been asked to provide one or two relevant photographs from her childhood to bring the film to life. I share Barbara's excitement and hope that we may get the opportunity to view the finished results. Well done, Barbara! This has

Good Morning Soroptimist Sisters What a variable week it has been weather wise with no two days the same! However, there was certainly one day worth remembering for sunshine and on Monday, Margaret and I took a trip to visit our Club President, Sue Scott, at her home in  Low Worsall. We spent a glorious sunny afternoon drinking tea and eating her Lemon Drizzle cake, [yummy and absolutely no calories!!!] whilst seated in her garden, surrounded by a lavender border which was attracting bees and butterflies in abundance! For two and half hours we never stopped talking, we had so much to catch up on!  I hope that some of you have been able to enjoy face to face meetups with family and friends? -o0o- CLUB NEWS I was delighted to join SI Darlington's  ZOOM meeting on Wednesday last, and to learn about the work