Update for April
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. Babs is also serving this year as Yorkshire Regional Treasurer, alongside our member Judith Clark as joint Yorkshire Region President.
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 Richmond’s Lady Town Crier. Entrance was free, with light refreshments served. Thanks go to members of the club for donating these, especially our bakers. As usual, we held a raffle and some visitors gave donations, so we were able to raise £160 for our funds. Almost 100 people attended this successful event.
We now have a display from the exhibition on view in the Richmondshire Museum, which opened on April 1st for it’s 2025 season. Our thanks go to the Museum for giving us this opportunity to extend our exhibition’s life.
March Meeting
Choir of the Earth
Our March meeting featured one of our members as speaker. Jenny Cathcart talked to members about the online choir of which she is a member. This began as a COVID project, to bring an opportunity to choral singers to sing together remotely during lockdowns. The Self-Isolation Choir was a tremendous success, producing a performance of the Messiah featuring 12,000 singers from all round the world. This was “broadcast” on YouTube. It was such a success, that the choir is still going strong. Now transformed into The Choir of the Earth (COTE), it has just celebrated its 5th Birthday. YouTube video “classes” and guide recordings are used to teach members the music. Those who wish to can make recordings of themselves to send in. These are mixed by audio engineers with professional accompaniment and soloists to produce virtual concerts. All the choir’s concerts be seen on YouTube. Concerts range from choral works large and small, from Mozart Masses to songs by ABBA and The Beatles. COTE is a source of great enjoyment for members, all in the comfort of their own homes.
Charity Fundraising
Speakers and events are now all confirmed for our 2025-26 programme. The biggest fundraiser will be a Knock-out Rounders Match on Sunday 8th June at Richmond Equestrian Centre in Tunstall. The aim is to encourage 16 teams of 10 to enter, at £50 per team. On the day there will be various other activities including face painting, bouncy castle Poo Bingo. A barbecue will be run, plus donations bar, tea and coffee and a cake stall. It is hope there could be 200+ people attending. The money raised will go to our main charity of the year, Hambleton & Richmondshire Palliative Care Team. We will be assisting the daughter of one of our members in organising this event. She is leading on the project in memory of her father, who received wonderful care from the Palliative Care Team until he passed away late last year.
We will also be running 3 fund-raising coffee mornings at Richmond Town Hall, as usual – with raffle, tombola, cake and book stalls. We have also agreed to hold a mini-raffle at each of our meetings for a small prize which will be donated by members in turn.
“Material” Help
We have also confirmed plans with North Yorkshire County Council’s Youth Voice Team to make large tote bags to be given to children in care to carry their possessions, in place of the current “bin-bags”. Packs of upholstery and curtain fabrics have been purchased from a haberdashery sale, and packs (plus instructions!) were given out at the meeting to members with sewing machines to start on the first batch.
We were also pleased to welcome to the meeting the newly appointed local representative of SmartWorks Leeds, who is based in Catterick. We will be collecting further items of suitable clothing, shoes and accessories for their clients, to enable them to dress smartly for job interviews.
February Update
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 addition to learning to ride, and can go on to take part in events and competitions.
Plans for 2024-25
The business meeting then went on to confirm the speaker plans proposed at our planning meeting in January, which cover a wide variety of charities and local interests. We also confirmed the charities we will be supporting next year. The prime one will be the Richmond & Hambleton Palliative Care Team which provides invaluable support and comfort to patients and their families with end-of-life care. This was experienced recently by one of our members, whose family are also fundraising for the service.
In addition, we will also continue to provide support for EVA Women’s Aid, and the work of our Friendship Link Club SI Harare. Sue Eastham reported that her husband’s garage business continues to give generous donations to EVA, including pyjamas this Christmas.
Following a fascinating talk in November about their work, we will also be developing a relationship with the North Yorkshire County Council’s Youth Voice programme, which supports children in care and at risk. The club is buying stocks of upholstery fabric from a local firm which is closing down. This will be used to make large hardwearing tote bags to be given to children taken into care. Currently they are often only provided with black bin bags to carry all their possessions.
We were also delighted to hear that SmartWorks now has a local branch, through a new Outreach Assistant living in Catterick. We look forward to working with her, and generating more clothing and accessory donations.
International Women’s Day
Work is well in hand for our exhibition marking International Womens’ Day. This will be the second year we are celebrating the contribution of local women to the community. This “Women of Richmondshire” exhibition will be on show at Richmond Town Hall on Friday, March 7th from 3:00 to 6:30, with free entry and light refreshments. We hope this will be as successful as the previous one.
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
We also apportioned the charity funds which have not yet been allocated, and agreed to make donations to the Richmondshire Museum, and our sister club SI Harare, among others. The Museum will be providing space for a follow on exhibition of our International Women’s Day Exhibition planned for Richmond Town Hall in March. SI Harare is working within a national programme to promote cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccinations. We also nominated organisations to be our new Annual Charity following on from our successful project this year with Richmond Dales Amateur Swimming Club.
Events and Club Meetings
There was a very fruitful discussion of possible speakers for our meetings in the coming year. These were wide-ranging and overlapped in some cases with charity proposals. We soon had a very interesting tentative programme in place.
One of our members has offered to run a quiz, which will make an excellent fundraising event, alongside our usual Coffee Mornings. In addition, some suggestions were made for social events. We have been offered a tour of Easby Abbey, one of our local English Heritage sites. This could be combined with a picnic in the grounds during the summer. Several members also volunteered to host a bring a dish supper.
All the above proposals are being circulated to the full membership for comments and votes on proposals – as some members were unable to attend the session. All told a very successful meeting, and some exciting ideas on offer for next year.
Seasons Greetings
As Christmas is nearly upon us, here are our Seasons Greetings to all!
Yorkshire Regional Council Meeting
On 23rd November, SI Yorkshire had its quarterly meeting with lunch which marks the start of a new Soroptimist year. Despite the unexpected arrival of 6-7 inches of snow in the Richmond area overnight, SI R&D was represented in strength. We were keen to support our member Judith Clark who has become joint Region President alongside Sue Butler of Ilkley club, and also our member Babs Hunt, who has taken up the role of Regional Treasurer.
Members were all delayed by conditions, but managed to make it to The Bridge Hotel, Wetherby in time to hear the speaker, who was very thought-provoking. We also enjoyed the excellent lunch, which was most welcome after our difficult journey. To mark Judith’s appointment club members had written and performed a comic song (set to the tune of Ilkley Moor bar t’At) exemplifying Judith’s commitment to Soroptimism. This was very well received, especially by Judith!
The New Regional Committee & Joint Presidents
Orange Coffee Morning
The following weekend we held another fund-raising Coffee Morning in Richmond Town Hall. As this coincided with the UN 16 Days of Activism against gender Based Violence, the members taking part all wore Orange, and a display of information about the UN campaign was put on. We had a well stocked cake-stall (supplied by members), plus books & bric-a-brac, tombola and raffle. This was another successful event, and we raised a total of just over £300 for our Charity funds.
November Club Meeting
Colburn Community Hub & Cafe
Our November Club Meeting was held at the Colburn Community Hub & Cafe, which we visit every year at this time. Our lovely evening meal was prepared and served by the lady volunteers who are responsible for meals at the Community Centre. These volunteers also give cooking lessons to local people who need a bit of help, and dietary advice. As usual, we took along donations of food for their Community Christmas Hampers – including some special Christmas treats – and gave contributions to their ‘Warm Rail’. This is a collection of warm clothes donated for gifting to those in need.
North Yorkshire Voice
Our speaker that evening was Chloe Thwaite, from NY Voice, which is a body within North Yorkshire Council which supports and advocates for young people across the county. Chloe gave us a whistlestop overview (with particular reference to girls and young women) of the wide variety of services and groups which NY Voice provides or supports. We were very impressed by the range of work being carried out, and the achievements of some of the children in care whom she spoke about.
We were also struck by the potential synergy between the work of NY Voice and Soroptimism. SI Yorkshire and its constituent clubs could work in partnership with NY Voice in several capacities, and options will be pursued. We made sure Chloe had Soroptimist contact details before she left, as well as our good wishes for herself and the rest of the team doing such excellent work on a very tight budget.
Joint President Babs with Chloe
Projects Update
- We now have the total raised at our recent fundraiser for Richmond Dales Amateur Swimming club: a magnificent £1146 has been sent to the club for equipment to support their girl swimmers during their periods.
- Plans are proceeding for our next intake of students from Richmond School for our Sharing Our Skills project next term.
- Two members have recently taken a donation of clothes to the Newcastle branch of SmartWorks, following up on our recent donation to Leeds branch.
- A further LendWithCare donation has been given to a 15-year-old entrepreneur in Thailand. She inherited her father’s farm where she lives with her grandfather and sister. She has ideas for expanding the business.
- Members recently met with representatives of the Richmondshire Museum to discuss options to support each other. The Museum has agreed to mount an exhibition of material from our International Women’s Day “Women of Richmond” display when it reopens in Spring 2025. In return, we have been asked for volunteers to assist with manning the Museum during opening hours for the 6 months of the year it is able to welcome visitors. The Museum is entirely charitably funded, with no endowments, and only one half time employee. Everything else is done by the team of volunteers.
- Work is also in progress in gathering nominees for our second IWD exhibition entitled “Women of Richmond & Dales”. This will be presented in Richmond Town Hall to celebrate International Women’s Day in March 2025.
Eventful November
We are having quite an eventful November!
Sharron Davies Evening
Last night we held an event at the Scotch Corner Hotel featuring the great Olympic swimmer and campaigner for women in sport, Sharron Davies. The evening was a fundraiser on behalf of the Richmond Dales Amateur Swimming club, to help fund equipment for their girl swimmers. This is one of our charities for 2024-25. Before the event, Sharron attended their training session, meeting their young swimmers and putting them through their paces: what a privilege! In the evening, over 120 people had supper followed by a talk by Sharron about her career and issues in women’s sport. She was a terrific speaker, and very inspirational. After the talk she spent lots of time talking to attendees, especially the youngsters, and let everyone examine her Olympic torches and her medals. An outstanding evening with an outstanding woman!
Remembrance Day
Join President Lin accompanies by member Jan Beeton attended the annual British Legion Remembrance Day parade and service as our representatives. As is our custom, they laid a wreath at the Richmond War Memorial in memory of the fallen. Being a military town, this is always an important event, with many community organisations playing their part alongside the military.
SIGBI Conference in Edinburgh
The SIGBI Conference took place in Edinburgh at the beginning of November. A group of seven members from Richmond & Dales attended, with 3 going for their first time. Conference is an important opportunity to meet with fellow Soroptimists from all over the world, and to share in the ceremony in which Regional Presidents hand over their regalia to the incoming new Presidents. This time one of our members, Judith Clark, was inducted as Joint President of Yorkshire for 2024-2025. Highlight of the conference was the keynote speaker – Baroness Floella Benjamin, the actress, TV presenter, writer of children’s books and active member of the House of Lords. Dame Floella has received many awards in recognition of her work for children, immigrant communities and other charitable groups. Two of our members were lucky enough to meet her at the conference.
