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April Meeting – AGM

April Meeting – AGM

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Our April meeting was the AGM, as we move into the new year, 2022-23. The meeting began with readings by members from our ‘Women of Influence’ project (posted separately).  What inspiring and remarkable women we heard about!  As usual, the AGM was a fairly ritual process, reviewing the previous year and previewing the new.  We were able to donate over £3000 last year, plus donations in kind, which was quite an achievement, given the limitations of the Covid pandemic.  We were also very pleased to welcome two new members to the club. Chair Jan Beeton thanked all members of the club who participated in this successful year, in particular the members of Executive, who have kept the ball rolling.  The new Executive was confirmed, and will continue to meet via Zoom, which has worked well this year.  The new Executive follows the structure of a

Women of Influence

Women of Influence

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Soroptimist International celebrated its centenary in 2021, and to mark this milestone m embers of SI Richmond & Dales decided to compile a record of women who, in their lives, had inspired and influenced them. Here are the citations for our Women of Influence, which were read out at the AGM: Jean Crouch – Role model for education, nominated by Jan Beeton As the co-editor of the “Girl” comic and annual, Jean Crouch provided life stories of influential women from British History and the Arts. This counterbalanced a very male view of history being taught in schools in the 1950s, being full of battles, revolutions, and royalty. Each Christmas I would get a Girl annual and as an avid reader, I read them over and over again. It’s via this comic that I learned about Boadicea, Florence Nightingale, Edith Cavel, Flora McDonald, Elizabeth Barret-Browning, The

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson

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SI Richmond and Dales were delighted to host an evening with Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson at the Scotch Corner Hotel on Thursday 24th March.  This was a really long-awaited event, as we originally planned this prior to the pandemic.  After several postponements, we were very pleased the event was finally able to take place.  This was despite an road accident just below Scotch Corner an hour before the event, which closed the A1 Southbound, and caused traffic chaos around the junction and the hotel. Luckily, Baroness Tanni arrived early.  Sadly, many of our guests were delayed, and our fellow Soroptimists coming south from Darlington and Durham were unable to make it in time to hear her speak. The event was organised in support of International Women’s Day.  SIGBI’s theme for International Women’s Day was Breaking the Bias and Baroness Tanni inspired us to seek a world

March Monthly Meeting

March Monthly Meeting

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March Monthly Meeting Here is the update on our March Monthly Meeting.  We did not have a speaker at this month’s meeting, as it was our annual Programme Action Review.  Jenny Cathcart, the incoming Programme Action Lead, described the varied things we were able to despite the limitations of the Covid pandemic.  These have been described on the news blog through the year, but it is always useful to remind ourselves of what we have been able to do, especialy for our main charities this year, Just-The-Job and Colburn Foodshare.  As always, we seem to have been able to do much more than we remembered.  Let us hope that we are less subject to restrictions this year, and can return to full throttle. Members have been active this month alongside others in this area in donating food and baby supplies to the Ukraine Crisis initiative

February Meeting

February Meeting

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The February meeting saw a good turnout of members plus several guests.  We were also joined by our new cohort of 5 students from Richmond School. They will be joining us for the next 3 months for our ongoing ‘Sharing Our Skills’ project.  This gives the students an opportunity to see how we work – see the structure of Executive and business meetings, and take part in charitable and campaigning activities. Upcoming Events Our International Women’s Day event will be on 24th March. We will at long last be able to welcome Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson to speak to us at the Scotch Corner Hotel.  Due to the pandemic, this event has been postponed for 2 years!  Over 130 tickets have been sold. We will also be selling copies of “Spider Woman”, the autobiography of our patron, Baroness Hale, at the event, and running a raffle.

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson

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Before the arrival of Covid, we scheduled ‘An Evening with Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson‘ as our tribute to International Women’s Day.  Inevitably this had to be postponed, then postponed again, but we are pleased to announce that this event will take place on March 24th 2022 at The Holiday Inn Scotch Corner.  The timing is arrival from 6pm for 6:30 start, with a meal served at 7pm.  If you bought tickets for this event, dust them off and contact us to confirm that you will be attending. Please email us on sirichmondanddales@yahoo.com.  We are really looking forward to welcoming you to this event!

SI Richmond and Dales January update

SI Richmond and Dales January update

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Happy New Year to all!    As we had no meeting to December, this is the first post of 2022, SI Richmond and Dales January update. Quiz Night We held a fundraising Quiz & Supper at The Holiday Inn Scotch Corner at the end of November. Approximately 70 contestants too part in the quiz, and a total of £404 was raised. The Hotel served a very good Pie & Pea Supper, and the quiz was set and run for us by local regular quizmaster Dave Tucker.  First prize was a voucher for dinner for two in Fratello’s, the Scotch Corner Hotel restaurant.  Members of SI Richmond & Dales marked the occasion by wearing orange to highlight the international campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.         Xmas Meal We were able to celebrate Christmas with a meal at The Station, Richmond,

November meeting and talk

November meeting and talk

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November meeting and talk Our November meeting and talk were held at the Holiday Inn, Scotch Corner.  This was an open meeting with guests, to hear a fascinating talk from Elizabeth Smith, Public Events Coordinator (North East) of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  It was surprising to discover that they not only work to maintain the many war grave cemeteries and memorials in the UK and Europe, but in many other parts of the world as well, from South America to the Far East.  It is also remarkable that new burials continue to take place, as bodies from both World War I and World War II are still being discovered.  Many of our members and guests have visited these sites, and been moved by what they represent.  An excellent talk! Good news from SI Harare Chris Bowran updated us on good news from our sister

Soroptimists in October

Soroptimists in October

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Here is an update of what’s happened for our Soroptimists in October. Monthly Meeting Talk We met at the Scotch Corner Holiday Inn Hotel, which is likely to become our new regular meeting place.  The meeting began with a talk by member Barbara (Babs) Hunt about the Institute of Advanced Motoring (of which she is a member), and the courses offered to brush up driving skills.  The IAM offers a range of courses to different types of road users, and the local group, based in Northallerton, is active in promoting its services and road safety concerns. Babs suggested that members consider taking a course, or at least trying a free taster session.  Probably a good idea! Invitations to join activities in the community Just the Job is holding an Open Day on 6th November at their Gallowfields site, and has asked the Soroptimists for volunteers to

September Meeting

September Meeting

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Meeting Speaker SI R&D held it’s September meeting at the Colburn Village Hall on 16th September.  The meeting began with a fascinating talk by local ex-army man Bryan Selkirk.  He has been working for over 20 years with  Charity Chernobyl Aid UK to support families from the Chernobyl area, which is now part of Belarus.  Bryan hosted visiting children who came for holidays for a number of years, when they were able to have helath checks, and explore the area.  He then went on to help set up a wheelchair-friendly home for disabled children – for whom conditions are otherwise very bad – and a respite home for families.  For the next 10 years Bryan drove a truck as part of a humanitarian convoy to Belarus carrying donations of clothes and equipment.  Sadly, the pandemic forced these to stop, but he hopes that they will