{"id":5935,"date":"2021-05-09T16:08:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T15:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/northern-england\/?p=5935"},"modified":"2021-05-09T16:08:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T15:08:51","slug":"presidents-weekly-message-week-fifty-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/northern-england\/2021\/05\/09\/presidents-weekly-message-week-fifty-six\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidents Weekly Message – Week Fifty Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

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To all my sister Soroptimists in Northern England,<\/span><\/h4>\n

I hope that you all are feeling that Spring has arrived and that May will\u00a0 \u201cbring forth the flowers \u201c and liven up our gardens.\u00a0 I have just heard the statistics on the weather for the past month and it tells us that in the UK there was a frost on each of the 30 days in April.\u00a0 Too cold for most of the little seedlings in my greenhouse to even think about going outside!<\/span><\/p>\n

First, we celebrate the life of Miss Florence Kirkby MBE ,\u00a0 <\/strong>a member of S.I.Newcastle upon Tyne for 47 years.\u00a0 She is featured in this May selection of prominent Soroptimists in #whoisshe\u00a0 <\/strong>on the SIGBI Centennial web site.\u00a0\u00a0 She will be remembered by many members as she was our Regional President from 2010 to 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

I leave you to read of all her achievements in her professional life in the field of Education but I take a little of your time to say something about her early days in Manchester and Blackpool.\u00a0 When her father died, Florence was only 15 years old and had to think of ways to support not only herself but also her mother.\u00a0 She left school and took several office jobs while starting,\u00a0 and funding,\u00a0 her own professional pathway to becoming a teacher.\u00a0 She started out training to be a Teacher of Speech and Drama which gave her the skills of speaking clearly and concisely.\u00a0 This is one of the lasting memories of Florence\u00a0 –\u00a0 you could always hear what she said !\u00a0\u00a0 She also had that remarkable talent of being able to sum up a lengthy discussion in a few very appropriate words.\u00a0\u00a0 After graduating at Manchester University, she held several teaching posts in the North West but the big change in her life came in 1963 when she moved to Newcastle upon Tyne as Headmistress of the Rutherford High School for Girls.\u00a0 In 1967 the Girls school amalgamated with the Boys Grammar School to become the City\u2019s first co-educational comprehensive school,\u00a0 and Florence became headmistress of Rutherford School.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This was in an era when many women were overlooked for professional posts.\u00a0 The positive impact that she had on her students is long lasting.\u00a0 I remember when Joyce Chesney and I visited the Tyne & Wear Archives to deposit the SINE regional records and the lady Archivist who received us saw Florence\u2019s name on one of the files.\u00a0 \u201cI was a Rutherford girl\u201d she said –\u00a0 almost glowing with pride at having known Florence and acknowledging Florence\u2019s role in her personal education.<\/span><\/p>\n

In her retirement (\u00a0 –\u00a0 if you can call it that as Florence never really \u2018retired\u2019 !)\u00a0 she took on a number of posts with local and national organisations.\u00a0 Particularly being a Lay Assessor for Public Appointments.\u00a0 I can just imagine many candidates at their interviews who saw a small and elderly lady on the Panel and wondering who she was\u00a0 and why she was there but who asked the most challenging questions and expecting appropriate replies promptly, much to their surprise.\u00a0 Florence\u2019s last public appearance was when she stood in the local May elections in 2018.\u00a0 At the age of 96 years she could still argue political points with the other contestants and hit the national headlines as the oldest candidate ever to stand for election.\u00a0 She died in January 2019 at the age of 97 and is still much remembered by not only members of S.I. Newcastle upon Tyne but by sister Soroptimists and teachers throughout the U.K.\u00a0 I am thankful that she did not have to live through and\u00a0 endure the restrictions of the Pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of us tuned in to the virtual UKPAC Study Day <\/strong>\u00a0on Saturday 17 April.\u00a0 Again,\u00a0 it was wonderful to sit in the comfort of your own home to listen to such speakers as Dame Sara Thornton,\u00a0 the Independent\u00a0 Commissioner for Modern Day Slavery.\u00a0 If you missed this event and would like to hear what she has to say,\u00a0 then the recordings and presentations are now available on line at:\u00a0 https:\/\/sigbi.org\/ukpac\/virtual-study-day-2021\/<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

News from the\u00a0 #planttrees\u00a0 <\/strong>SIGBI Centennial project about a forthcoming recorded Webinar – available from Saturday 8th May 2021.\u00a0 Here you can watch John Tucker,\u00a0 Director of Woodland Creation & Outreach, Woodland Trust\u00a0 share his passion for all things trees and he will discus some of the most challenging questions about climate change and tree planting for the future.\u00a0 John is a Chartered Forester with 40 years forestry and arboriculture experience.\u00a0 He has worked for Woodland Trust since 1994 in a variety of forest management roles,\u00a0 with a strong focus on woodland creation since 2010. Listen to him and share his thoughts on :-<\/span><\/p>\n