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Update for October

Update for October

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Save Our Swale At this month’s meeting we were joined as speakers by 3 representatives of Save Our Swale (SOS). They came to address the meeting about their campaign against pollution in the River Swale.  Brian Benson spoke about the poor history of water supply and sewage disposal regulation, in particular since the privatisation of the multiplicity of Water Companies under the Conservative Government in 1989 into a few large regional monopolies.  Nationally, management since then has resulted in massive dividend payments to the small number of shareholders, build-up of billions of pounds in debts, increasing charges and – most critical – ongoing underinvestment in the infrastructure.  This has resulted in leaks of 2-3bn litres of water a day, and chronic release of untreated sewage into our rivers.  Together with chemical run off and spills from farms this means widespread river pollution. SOS is one

September Meeting

September Meeting

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This was the first “regular” meeting attended by our 3 new members, who joined us last month for the outing to Easby Abbey.  Babs was able to present them with their badges and formally welcome them. Richmond Refugee Support Our speaker was Annette Clarke from Richmond Refugee Support group. This is a voluntary group who provide social support for resettled people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and Ukraine.  They have arrived in our area by various different routes, though many are linked with the Ministry of Defence.  They and their families may have been given a settlement agreement for up to 3 years through work they performed for the MOD.  We were very impressed at the range of support the group gives. The group helps provide a befriending service which provides many things. This includes explaining where local facilities are, taking people to medical appointments or

Meeting at Easby Abbey

Meeting at Easby Abbey

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Easby Abbey We held our July Meeting at Easby Abbey, the English Heritage ruins on the edge of Richmond.  The evening began with a picnic in the grounds on a lovely evening, which was followed by a tour and talk about the history of the Abbey by Kate Streatfield, one of the English Heritage custodians. Evidence suggests that a religious community of some sort existed on the site before the abbey was founded. This was probably based on the surviving parish church of St Agatha, and may have been an Anglian minster, a community of priests responsible for serving the surrounding parishes.  The Abbey itself was founded in about 1152 by Roald, constable of Richmond, and may have absorbed the earlier minster.  It was a Premonstratensian Foundation, only the third one in England. Most of the Abbey was built in the 13th century. The Premonstratensian

News of June Meeting

News of June Meeting

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We held our June meeting at Holiday Inn, Scotch Corner on a very warm evening.  Sadly, our guest speaker from the Richmond & Hambleton Palliative Care Team, had been taken ill and could not be with us. However, our newest member, Sara-Louise offered to stand up and speak to us about her life and work. Sara is a real local, having been born in Northallerton, and lived all her life in Richmond.  She works as a senior member of a Chartered Accountancy firm in Richmond.  Her main focus is supporting new clients, especially those setting up new businesses, as well as supporting the women on her team.  She discovered Soroptimism when her Godmother Lin (our past President and current club Secretary) nominated her for our ‘Women of Richmond Exhibition’ for International Women’s Day. Sara received a very warm welcome from club members. Our Programme Action

Donation to North Yorkshire Voice

Donation to North Yorkshire Voice

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Members of SI Richmond and Dales met recently with a representative of North Yorkshire Voice at The Station, Richmond. North Yorkshire Voice is an arm of North Yorkshire County Council which aims to give young people a voice within North Yorkshire, joining communities together through youth engagement. They work in particular with young people at risk or in care.  Our members met NY Voice to deliver a supply of large tote bags made by members of the Club. These will be given to youngsters going into care to carry their personal belongings. Otherwise they often have only black bin bags for lack of other options.

May Meeting

May Meeting

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Richmond Dales Amateur Swimming Club At our May meeting we were delighted to welcome as speaker Esme Flounders from Richmond Dales Amateur Swimming Club, who came to inform us of the impact of our fundraising for them. The £1146 raised at the Sharron Davies Evening has massively aided young girls to maintain training schedules. Presently they have about 160 members in the club with 50% of the younger members and 65% of older ones being girls. Members commit to 12-16 hours a week training, increased for the older ones who also have 2 hours of gymnastic work each week. Prior to our support there had been a huge issue with girls missing training during menstrual cycles. There are a range of products available for girls, but these are very expensive. We heard that race suits for a gala cost around £300 each and girls would

Update for April

Update for April

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After the excitement of our International Women’s Day Exhibition in May, April has been a quieter month.  We held our Annual General Meeting at the Scotch Corner Hotel, looking back on the year 2024-5.  Another busy year with lots of activities, campaigns and fundraising, as usual. We were also delighted to welcome a new member at the meeting.  The Secretary thanked all those who served as Officers on the Executive, and/or worked on our projects. We confirmed the new executive Committee, and the programme for the coming year.  This information is now available on our website.  Our joint Presidents Babs Hunt and Lin Ryan will continue to be our formal Presidents for ‘official’ duties, though each month our meetings will be chaired by a different member of the club.  This will reduce the workload for the Presidents, especially as they both hold other Executive posts. 

Update on our March activities

Update on our March activities

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Here is an update on our March activities: International Women’s Day Exhibition: Women of Richmondshire In March 2024 SI Richmond and Dales celebrated International Women’s Day by putting on an exhibition of over 100 women who contribute to the community in Richmond. The response from the many people who came to see it was so encouraging that we expanded the exhibition for 2025 to include women of Richmondshire. This display covered women from local past history as well as women of today, from varied walks of life.  They are women who contribute to local life in all sorts of roles, exalted or humble, but each in some way keeps the wheels of their community turning or enhances local life. The exhibition was displayed in a free exhibition in Richmond Town Hall on Friday March 7th, and we were very proud that it was opened by

February Update

February Update

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Here is the February update on our activities. Riding for the Disabled The Speaker at our February meeting was Chair of Richmond & Catterick Riding for the Disabled Association, an organisation we have previously supported. Their ‘mantra’ is “It’s what you can do” and he went on to describe the happy, positive and highly valued organisation that sees 25,000 children and adults helped nationally through 470 groups completely run by volunteers.  In Richmond & Catterick, 30 Riders can attend the Saddle Club on Wednesdays and Saturdays, hosted by a team 0f 90 volunteers. Riders of all ages from 4 to 55 with all disabilities are accepted.  From the video shown, the joy of the riders was clear.  This activity  results in many positive outcomes, amongst them improved confidence, balance, co-ordination and a sense of achievement. Riders learn all aspects of horse care and management in

New Year Update

New Year Update

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Happy New Year! Annual Planning Day Not surprisingly, January is a fairly quiet month.  Our main activity is to begin 2025 with our annual planning day at the Holiday Inn, Scotch Corner.  This is when we discuss what SI Richmond & Dales will be doing in our next year, April 2025 – March 2026, and review where we are as we approach the end of the current year.  We were delighted to be joined for the meeting by our two new Sharing our Skills students from Richmond School. Review of processes Our first task was to reflect on how the organisation has been operating, and some improvements to our routines were agreed, and Executive posts confirmed. We decided to revive having Programme Action Review as part of our AGM, and some ideas for new projects were considered to run alongside our ongoing activities. Charity Funding