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Sudden death of Valued Member, Hilary Ibbotson

Sudden death of Valued Member, Hilary Ibbotson

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S I Richmond and Dales are very sad to announce that long serving (35years) member Hilary Ibbotson died suddenly on October 16th. Hilary served as Secretary more than once, Minute Secretary, Programme Action Convenor, member of the Finance Committee and Regional Council Representative. She was club president in 1993 to 1994. Hilary had a warm, cheerful, personality.  Always optimistic, which stood her in good stead during lock-down when she was shielded. She was chatty, friendly, welcoming and encouraging to new members. A very tall lady, certainly the tallest member of our club and probably among Yorkshire members, she was recently heard bemoaning the fact that “Long Tall Sally “ had gone out of business. Hilary was a past Mayor of Richmond.  She served on the town council for many years, a great community servant. She helped to set up the local Talking Newspaper and read

Open Garden Afternoon

Open Garden Afternoon

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On 30th August, SI Richmond & Dales provided refreshments for the Open Garden Afternoon hosted by Marcia and Dennis McLuckie at their beautiful walled garden in Richmond.  This event was in aid of one of our Presidents’ charities, Just The Job. The amount raised from our sales of refreshments and the raffle of two food hampers was a fabulous £401.10.  A big thank you to our cake bakers and helpers on the day and those who donated to the raffle hampers.   It was busy but enjoyable and great to be out doing things in the community again. The entry money to the garden was about £2000, with just over 200 visitors coming to explore this lovely English country garden. Steve Biggs also sold plants from Just the Job plant nursery.  

The Curtilage – Richmond Market Place

The Curtilage – Richmond Market Place

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On Saturday 15 August, members of SI Richmond & Dales spent the morning on The Curtilage in Richmond on Saturday morning to raise awareness of one of the charities they are supporting this year, Just the Job Environmental Enterprise as well as the work of Soroptimists generally. The Curtilage is an area of the historic Richmond Market Place. Originally the Norman Castle bailey, it was granted to the town for a market place in the 13th century.  The Curtilage is an area on which the Town Council permits non-profit organisations to set out their information stalls beside the Saturday Market. Just the Job is an inventive local charity and social enterprise supporting adults with a wide range of abilities in practical, work orientated therapeutic activities. Steve Biggs, their General Manager, set up a Pole Lathe from their workshop which team workers use as therapy and

Hats from Recycled Materials

Hats from Recycled Materials

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A group of members met together to photograph their efforts in making hats from recycled materials – an initiative from our Yorkshire Regional President as part of her “Not written off” project.  Photographs have been sent to Region to be included in a press campaign to mark Yorkshire Day. We were particularly impressed with Jan’s Yorkshire hat, complete with Yorkshire Pudding!  

Headbands for Hospital Face Masks

Headbands for Hospital Face Masks

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In addition to Face Masks, our Member Sandy Baxter is now also making Headbands for the nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital. They are finding the constant wearing of face masks is making the backs of their ears very sore, so are attaching the elastic loops to headbands to hold their face masks in place. Sandy has so far produced 15, and asked club members to assist by providing more buttons and stretch fabric to enable her to keep going.

Letters from Zimbabwe and Rishi Sunak

Letters from Zimbabwe and Rishi Sunak

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We have received letters of thanks in response to our latest donation to our sister club in Harare, Zimbabwe https://sigbi.org/harare/, and also from our Rishi Sunak MP, our local MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The President of Harare club said: Dear SI Richmond and Dales, Thank you very much for your unwavering support. We are truly honoured and humbled by the generous support you have given to Chikupo and the other projects we support. We will most certainly distribute the allocated funds to Chikupo as requested and we will distribute the remaining funds between the TBAs and SODA. I take this opportunity to thank SI Richmond and Dales for your kind support. In friendship Tsitsi Machingauta TBAs are the Zimbabwean Traditional Birthing Attendants, the local women to assist at child delivery, as there are no qualified midwives.  We and Harare Club have contributed to

Facemasks for Sales

Facemasks for Sales

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Soroptimist Richmond & Dales member, and expert beekeeper, Sandy Baxter has been delighted that her bees have defied ‘lockdown’ and continued to produce their wonderful honey! For every jar sold Sandy donated £1 to Soroptimist charities in Zimbabwe, and she has produced dozens of face masks for Zimbabwe too. Sandy is continuing to make facemasks for sale in aid of our other projects.  They are available for £5.00 each.  Please contact sirichmondanddales@yahoo.com to order yours!  Sandy’s masks are two layered, and she recommends the following disposable liner made from a paper tissue to be used with them.

June Meeting via Zoom

June Meeting via Zoom

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Members got together online using Zoom for our June Meeting.  Much of the discussion was about things we hope to be able to do when the coronavirus limitations are eased enough to allow fundraising events. Our planned July Coffee morning is moving to February 2021, and our March event with Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson is now rescheduled to March or April 2021.  We are also preparing ideas for our Sharing our Skills project with Richmond School, which will start in January. Next year we aim to provide trees from the Woodland Trust for planting by  Just the Job, one of this year’s President’s charities.  Tree planting links both the Centenary of Soroptimist International Great Britain & Ireland, and Richmond  950 – a celebration of 950 years since the building of the Castle and founding of the town.  A new woodland is being planted to commemorate this.

Food Bank Donation

Food Bank Donation

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Our new joint presidents, Faye and Jane are pictured here about to deliver a Food Bank donation to our local Food Bank, Storehouse ( http://www.influencechurch.co.uk/storehouse/). We have supported the Richmond Food Bank Period Poverty programme for some time, supplying sanitary products for women and girls in need.  With the Coronavirus crisis bringing increased demand on the Food Bank, we decided we need to support them in a more varied way.  Soroptimist member Chris Bowran put a request out to members to donate food and other household items, and to leave them on the bench by her front door.  The club was overwhelmed by the amazing support of members.  Presidents Faye Doorbar & Jane Priestley loaded the car to deliver a huge offering to the Food Bank, which was gratefully received.