2015 Events

Walking For The Wounded

Members of SI Richmond and Dales took part in a walk from the Green Howards Museum in Richmond to The Beacon in Catterick Garrison, the resettlement and support centre for homeless veterans. This was an event to support the charity Walking For The Wounded and the walkers were greeted by residents, staff and friends of The Beacon and other Soroptimists at the end of their journey. The walkers and guests were treated to refreshments supplied by the Beacon Veterans’ Bakery. Guest of honour was the well-known actor and adventurer Brian Blessed who spoke with characteristic passion of his appreciation and admiration for the bravery of our forces in combat.

 

Welcome to our newest member

We are delighted to welcome Marcia as the newest member of our club. We know she will quickly feel at home and make lots of new friends as well as making a valuable contribution to our programme action projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zimbabwe projects

Members have been getting their friends and family to knit baby clothes for the Traditional Birthing Attendants who are supported by our friendship link club, SI Harare. This project has been detailed elsewhere, below, but the main problem we have is actually getting items out to Zimbabwe without incurring large postal costs or attracting import duty. The most efficient way for us is to hand the goods over to any Zimbabwean Soroptimists who are attending the annual SIGBI conference, but this means that they have to travel home very heavily laden, whilst at the same time, bringing very little luggage with them. Thandi just about came with only the clothes she stood up in to be able to take back these large bags of baby clothes for women who arrive to give birth with nothing for the baby.

We also handed over the results of our fundraising. We managed to raise $725 this year which will go towards our new joint project, School All Month (SAM), which is aiming to supply girls with sanitary protection so that they don’t have to stay off school when menstruating, a circumstance which too often leads to their dropping out of secondary education altogether.

 

Presenting a cheque on behalf of WEST

Our former ‘Sharing Our Skills” student Laura went on to co-found the Women’s Education SocieTy at Northumbria University (see our write up on the 2014 events page) and we set up a working partnership between WEST and soroptimists in India. WEST has fundraised to help SI Chennai Downtown build a girls’ toilet block in a local school and we had the pleasant task of handing over the latest cheque at conference to Naina from SI Chennai Downtown.

 

 

 

 

Glasgow Conference 2015

14 of us went to conference from SIR&D and all agreed that it was an exceptionally successful event with outstanding speakers. These included HRH The Princess Royal, Jo Fairley who founded Green and Blacks organic fair-trade chocolate, Dame Stella Rimington, the first female head of MI5 and Sarah Montague of Radio 4’s Today programme – and this was only before lunch on the Friday! Saturday brought yet more inspiring speakers plus club presentations of their programme action work. We were delighted to be invited to give a presentation about our Sharing our Skills project and several clubs, from Bedford to Barbados, have requested details with a view to perhaps running a project themselves.

Conference is also an opportunity to catch up with soroptimist friends from abroad and we were able to spend some quality time with our sisters from Zimbabwe and to meet up with Naina from SI Chennai Downtown.

Please follow this link for the full write up and pictures. https://sigbi.org/glasgow2015/

 

  

 

 

 

 

Sharing Our Skills

Our latest cohort of students are Charlotte, Erica and Eve. They are very enthusiastic young women and it’s lovely to have them among us for a few weeks. We hope that they will enjoy their time with us.

If you wish to contact us for more information about our Sharing Our Skills project following our presentation at conference, please email us at sirichmondanddales@yahoo.com. Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

Trophies for Chikupo School

Chikupo is a very isolated rural school in Zimbabwe and the pupils have to walk up to 10km to reach it each morning. Many of them are HIV orphans looked after by their grandparents. The school functions with no electricity supply and the water supply comes from a bore hole which dries up by October each year (the rains come in December).

The head teacher told us when we visited the school in March this year that he believes that the children must be IT literate and fluent in English to progress in the world. His vision seemed all the more notable when were were told that for many of the children we would be the first white faces they have ever seen. He is keen to develop the school library which at present consists of a shelf of old storybooks so we are helping by collecting children’s books and transporting them out to Zimbabwe by any route possible! To encourage the children in learning English, we have donated these trophies – one for the girls and one for the boys – to be presented each year for the best piece of written English. We presented them to the President of SI Harare at the Glasgow conference. They will be donated on our behalf by SI Harare who will also set the parameters of the competition.

 

 

  

 

Club meeting October 2015

This month’s speaker was Peter MacNamara who talked to us about WaterAid. Peter is a lively, engaging speaker and we greatly enjoyed his enthusiasm as he reminded us how easily we take our clean water and sanitation for granted. He asked us to calculate the amount of water we each use in a day (upwards of 200 litres per household) and contrast it with the United Nations’ goal that everyone in the world will have access to a minimum of 10 litres of clean water per person per day – a goal which is a long way from being achieved. It is also a salutary thought that there are more mobile phones in the world than toilets.

As Soroptimists, we are aware of the impact on women and girls of having to carry water long distances every day and Peter gave us the opportunity to remind ourselves of the damage this does, not only physically, but in diverting women and girls away from education and work.

www.wateraid.org/uk 

 

 

Regional Council Meeting in Richmond September 2015

Our meeting this month was a bit different. We were fortunate to have Ann Hodgson, SIGBI Director of Organisational Development, as our speaker. To make the most of her visit, we moved our venue to the Scotch Corner Holiday Inn to be near the A1 and invited all the clubs from the Yorkshire and Northern regions. The hot topic of the moment is the proposal for associate membership which will be voted on at conference in November. It has proved controversial and there was plenty of lively debate and food for thought during the evening.

Always happy to take every opportunity to raise funds for our charities, this time for the work of our friendship link club SI Harare, we had stalls selling apples from a member’s seasonal glut and Christmas wrapping paper. There was also a box of wool for members to take to knit baby clothes for the traditional birthing attendants of Epworth village near Harare.

 

Domestic abuse forum Leyburn September 2015

Many people are unaware that domestic abuse occurs at every level of society and they find it particularly unpalatable that it exists in this beautiful corner of the Yorkshire Dales. However it is a fact that domestic abuse goes on in our small communities and is often more difficult to address here because the victims may be geographically isolated and information about where to get help is harder to come by.

To start addressing this we held a Domestic Abuse Forum in The Old School House in Leyburn. The lead speaker was Rebecca Cobby who works with the police as domestic abuse coordinator for  Richmondshire and Hamblelton. Other speakers were the director of the Independent Domestic Abuse Service (www.idas.org.uk), and the manager of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre for York and North Yorkshire (www.turntobridgehouse.org) and a local police officer and police community support officer.

The event was open to anyone wishing to attend and invitations were sent to a variety of community groups. We were pleased that the audience comprised representatives of numerous local organisations including local clergy and church groups, family support charities, counsellors, teachers and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. It was a very informal event and there was lively discussion throughout. One delegate later wrote that the event had been ‘outstanding’. All those attending felt that they had learned a great deal about the different forms which domestic abuse can take, how to recognise that someone may be a victim and how to access appropriate help locally.

 

On the curtilage September 2015

The weather gods always seem to give us a windy day when we have a stall on the curtilage in the market place. However, nothing daunted, we kept fit running after leaflets which were blown off the stall. These events are an opportunity to raise our profile in the town and we are very pleased with our new banner which proclaimed our identity and purpose across the busy market place so no one should be unaware of who we are. We took the opportunity to publicise several of our current interests: WaterAid, dementia and domestic abuse being our current projects.

 

 

 

 

Baby clothes for Zimbabwe August 2015

We would like to thank our friends Lesley and Kate who have knitted all these wonderful baby clothes for our link club SI Harare in Zimbabwe. A colleague from SI Harare will be attending the SIGBI conference in Glasgow in November and we hope she travels with an empty suitcase because she will have all this and much more to take back with her! The clothes will be used by the traditional birthing attendants in the village of Epworth, near Harare, for the babies of very poor women who arrive to give birth without any provision for the baby. Larger baby clothes will be given to Harare Children’s Home which, with no formal funding, looks after many abandoned babies and children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Party August 2015

On a day which was calm, dry and warm, if not actually sunny, we held a garden party to raise funds for two charities. Replete with a wonderful afternoon tea, our guests were invited to play croquet or, for the more sedentary, join local artist Nora Yates to create watercolour greetings cards. We were thrilled to find that we had raised over £700. This will be divided between 500 Miles (http://www.500miles.co.uk) – a charity providing prosthetic limbs for amputees in Africa and The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts (http://www.childrenandarts.org.uk). Thanks go to Sue for hosting the event, to those who made generous donations of raffle prizes and to all the willing helpers who provided and served food and cups of tea.

 

 

Memory Walk for The Alzheimers Society  August 2015

 

The weather was kind to us as we spent the day outdoors by The Station inviting passers by to take The Memory Walk. We had set up signs around the popular Drummer Boy walk and asked for a donation of £2 per head to do the walk.

Family and friends plus dogs enjoyed the 2.5 mile route in the blustery sunshine and the paths, some of which are often rather muddy, were all bone dry. The walk follows the old railway track under a canopy of trees to Easby Abbey, then opens out to cross fields before shadowing the River Swale back to The Station and all our walkers enjoyed it. Even those not able to walk the whole way were encouraged to go as far as they could along the flat railway path then turn back. Many people who didn’t take the Memory Walk did make a donation and we made £170 for The Alzheimers Society as well as raising awareness of their work.

 

 

Blankets for St John’s Community Centre July 2015

 

St. John’s Community Centre on Catterick Garrison, which provides support and care for elderly and disabled people, uses mini buses to bring their clients to the day centre. Last winter the passengers complained that the minibuses are draughty so we are encouraging our friends and relatives to knit squares which we are sewing together to make blankets for them. We hope that we will have provided enough for everybody before next winter!

 

 

 

 

 

Club meeting July 2015

This month our speakers were John Henderson from Dementia Action Alliance for North Yorkshire and Chris Riley who is a Dementia Friend. They spoke with great passion about the difficulties faced by dementia sufferers and emphasised how just a small amount of adjustment in the way we interact with other people can make a huge difference to their

ability to cope with the wider world. John told us all about the DAA initiative and its aims and objectives in this area. For more information about their work please follow this link http://www.dementiaaction.org.uk.

Our meeting this month was particularly special because we welcomed a new member, Ann Rowe,  to our club. We are delighted to have Ann amongst us and we look forward to getting to know her better.

 

 

 

 

The Soroptimist Cup is presented to the Georgian Youth Theatre July 2015

 

 

Our much loved and valued member, Betty Freeman died last winter and, in her memory, we have donated The Betty Freeman Soroptimist Cup to the Georgian Youth Theatre in Richmond. It is to be awarded in February to the young person who has made the most progress in the past year. Our president Judith Clark and several club members attended the recent production of The Three Musketeers and went up on stage after the performance to give the cup to the company. It will be awarded during the spring term. Unfortunately, due to the spotlights on the stage, were unable to get a good photo of the event – we will try harder at the presentation of the cup next year!

 

 

The Soroptimist Cup – Wavell School July 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two years ago we gave a cup to Wavell School on Catterick Garrison to be presented to a child or group of children who have made a difference to others. This year we are delighted to present the cup to Poppy Gray who is 8 years old. Last year Poppy grew her hair very long and in doing so raised £635 for Cancer research UK. Poppy then had her, by now, very long hair cut short and she donated it to the Little Princess Trust which makes real hair wigs for little girls undergoing chemotherapy.

 

Partnership working with Richmond C of E School – WaterAid Project July 2015

Our club is proud to have been working with the children of Richmond C of E School in developing an exhibition of the children’s research into the history of sanitation locally. This is part of the WaterAid National Action campaign which has aimed to highlight the importance of sanitation and clean water in the lives of all communities. WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities.

 

 

 

 

The children’s work was displayed at the Richmondshire Museum from 6-19th July and we had a stall at the school summer fete to promote the project. We were delighted when our new MP, Rishi Sunak and his family stopped by to chat.

 

 

 

Visit from SI Harare – June 2015

We have been delighted to have a visit from Miriam Mukorombindo, president elect of SI Harare in Zimbabwe. SI Harare is one of the clubs with which we have a formal friendship link and Miriam’s visit has given us a chance to discuss face-to-face the projects which we are working on together. We support the traditional birthing attendants in the village of Epworth by providing equipment and baby clothes for very poor families; provision of sanitary protection to allow girls to continue attending school during menstruation and supplying books to the rural school of Chikupo. We are also hoping to provide a trophy to Chikupo school to encourage the children’s writing. We had a lovely evening with Miriam and we sent our very best wishes to the rest of the club in Harare.

 

 

Club meeting June 2015 – Julia Mulligan North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner

 

 

 

Our June meeting was open to anyone who wished to attend as our speaker was our local Police and Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan. Many of us had to confess that we are a little hazy about the role of the PCC and much negative reporting in the media has coloured our attitude towards it. So it was very interesting to hear Julia talking about how she sees her role. The fact that the PCC is ‘public facing’ obviously influences her approach to her work: she is keen to develop transparency and accountability wherever possible. A lively Q&A session concluded this part of the meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional Conference – Scarborough June 2015

This year the regional conference was held at the Spa in Scarborough, a scenic venue on the shore. The theme was “Educate and Empower Through Performance and The Arts”. We learned about the work done by the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts to empower disadvantaged children, the work which the painter Nora Yates does with children and adults who have special needs and the outreach work done by the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. In the afternoon we heard about the digital learning tool for dancers developed by Jackie Autard, member of SI Dewsbury and a most interesting day was rounded off by Angela Harrison who told us very movingly about her work as a music therapist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit to Hawes Fire Station June 2015

On a very wet and stormy evening a party of us drove over to Hawes in Wensleydale to visit the Fire Station where one of the crew managers is one of only three female retained fire fighters in North Yorkshire. She talked to us about being a woman in a predominantly male environment and described what was going on as the crew carried out one of their routine drills with the hoses and pumps. It was a dreadful night and the crew would, we were sure, have preferred to be doing one of the indoor drills, but they put on a spectacular show and even gave us a turn on the hoses! Being Soroptimists, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for eating and drinking so we completed the evening with a very enjoyable meal at one of the local pubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional president’s lunch for the club presidents May 2015

As this year’s regional president is our own Angela Edwards we were delighted to assist in providing the lunch which is traditionally given for all the club presidents in the region. This gave Angela an opportunity to thank the club presidents for their hard work and gave them an opportunity to network and share ideas and support. One of our members, Sue, kindly offered her lovely garden as the venue and the weather was kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Soroptimist garden May 2015

In the Friary Gardens in Richmond there is a Soroptimist sensory garden dedicated to the memory of Debbie Walker, a member of this club who died tragically young some years ago. Our gardening team under the leadership of Elaine Walton has been working very hard on it for the past year and the results speak for themselves – a beautiful addition to the Friary Gardens and enjoyed by all who pass it on this busy footpath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Club meeting – May 2015 Rebecca Cobby, Domestic Abuse Coordinator for Hamilton and Richmondshire

Rebecca Cobby works for North Yorkshire Police with victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse. She gave us an insight into the complex issues surrounding the subject and updated us on the workings of ‘Claire’s law’ which allows individuals to enquire whether a new partner has any history as a perpetrator of domestic abuse. We now have a greater understanding of how women (though men are often victims too) are groomed into an abusive relationship and the warning signs to look out for.

We are working towards holding a Domestic Abuse Forum in Leyburn in September, the object of which is to raise awareness of domestic abuse in rural areas, and this evening’s meeting gave us an excellent start to the project.

 

Becca’s Walk

On 9th May several Soroptimists joined Andy Overton along with many others in Becca’s walk. Becca was Andy’s sister and she was killed by her partner after suffering a prolonged period of domestic abuse. The sponsored walk around York was held in her memory to raise awareness of domestic abuse and to raise funds for IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Service) which provides outreach and refuge services to York and North Yorkshire.

Although the weather wasn’t as kind as it might have been, it was an enjoyable event: we went round nooks and crannies of York that many of us hadn’t seen before. In our Becca’s walk T shirts and with our placards we managed to grab the attention of the shoppers in the city centre and raise some funds at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annual General Meeting April 2015

At our AGM we welcomed new officers into post and welcomed back those who continue to serve in the same post as last year. Although we try to keep pomp and ceremony to a minimum, it is necessary to have individuals who take responsibility for different elements of our work and the AGM is when we can thank them and recognise the work they do on behalf of the club. We also took the opportunity to present long service awards to several of our members. Our regional president Angela Edwards was with us both in her presidential capacity and as an ordinary member of our club, so she was able to present the awards and lend a generally regal air to the proceedings!

We look forward to a busy year with Judith at the helm!

 

 

 

Outgoing President Sheila handed over to our new president, Judith.

 

 

Regional President Angela with incoming President Judith and President Elect, Sue.

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Warm winter clothing collected for women at HMP New Hall – 20 March 2015

The collection of warm clothing for women prisoners at HMPNew Hall was motivated by an inspiring talk given at one of last year’s RCMs by Rev Canon Jane Clay, the senior chaplain at HMP New Hall. Dozens of large bags and packages of clothing filled Rev Antony Kirby’s Landrover to capacity with just enough room for Sheila and Christine to fit in. We drove to New Hall women’s prison in West Yorkshire, a closed women’s prison that holds adult female prisoners of all categories as well as Young Offenders and Juveniles on Detention and Training Orders. That means that the length of sentences might be from two weeks to life. At the Chaplaincy we heard about the work, support and pastoral care provided for the prisoners of several faiths by three full time and several part-time chaplains and many local volunteers. Other activities in the chapel include handcrafts, art, singing, drama and conversation. Many prisoners arrive malnourished and unwell and, particularly if they are admitted direct from Court, often inadequately clothed. Our contribution was welcomed. We thank Antony for his company and his help in providing transport.

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SI Harare’s 60th anniversary – March 2015

SI Harare has a formal friendship link with SI Richmond and Dales and two of our members, Michele and Chris were privileged to visit Zimbabwe this month to join in the celebrations for the diamond jubilee of SI Harare, the first Soroptimist club in Africa. Apart from being royally entertained in members’ homes and enjoying themselves at Imire Game Park, they were taken to visit some of the projects which SI Richmond and Dales has supported and also a rural school with which SI Harare has just begun working.

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SODA is a home for destitute elderly men and women and it is one of SI Harare’s constant tasks to ensure that there is enough food available for the residents to eat. This week they were relieved to have negotiated a donation of rice from a local company which will last for several days.

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The traditional birthing attendants in the village of Epworth are village women who have been trained to care for women during childbirth and to recognise potential emergencies so help can be obtained. Many of the local women cannot afford to attend the clinic to give birth, so the TBAs care for them and promote safe deliveries for mothers and babies. The TBAs reported that the local women are so poor that they turn up in labour with no clothes for the baby and no blanket to wrap themselves and the baby in. We hope to be able to knit some vests, hats and bootees to send to them.

 

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SI Harare ensures that their delivery packs are regularly replenished and necessary training is arranged. SI Richmond and Dales has supported this project for the past couple of years and it was lovely for Michele and Chris to see how any support is greatly valued by the TBAs themselves and they were impressed with how hard the TBAs work to help other women in their community. They repeatedly, and very touchingly, expressed their gratitude for the support they receive from Soroptimists both at home and abroad. Apart from improving the health of mothers an babies, this project has given the TBAs themselves a status in their communities and increased their self esteem as women. They held up placards saying “without SI we were nothing”.

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Towards the end of their stay, Chris and Michele visited Chikupo school – a very isolated rural primary school of 500 children with a secondary school nearby. This is a new project for SI Harare. Many of the children walk as far as 10km to attend school each day and often do not attend because no food is provided at school so if they have no food to bring with them they will stay at home. A large number of the children are cared for by grandparents, their parents having died of HIV-related infections. The school has no electricity and a shallow bore hole for water which dries up by October each year. The staff and School development council (made up of parents and community representatives) are very dedicated to the school and they are enthusiastic about the need for the children to be fluent

in English and to be IT literate. To this end they are keen to obtain an electricity supply and the possibility of provision of solar panels was discussed.

SI Richmond and Dales looks forward to strengthening their ties with SI Harare and to working in partnership with them into the future.

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Club meeting February 2015 – Members’ evening

This month we dispensed with the services of a speaker and instead had a members’ evening. First of all was a presentation from Elaine which she had originally given at the regional council meeting when we were awarded the Mary Hillary award for Programme Action. Many of the club members were not there to hear it the first time and it was such a good roundup of our work on Catterick Garrison during Elaine’s presidency that it was felt that a repeat performance was in order. It was good to be reminded of what we achieved during the previous Soroptimist year from the writing competition, support for the homeless veterans’ unit and the WAGGS choir and the awarding of the Soroptimist cup at Wavell School and all that resulted in terms of community engagement by the children.

Next we had three ‘job talks’ from some of our newer members. We only have these occasionally but they are a good way to get to know our members (and to find out what useful skills they may be quietly harbouring!). Sue, Michele and Christine gave us a brief outline of their working lives and current interests and received an enthusiastic round of applause.

We had three potential members visiting us, so we hope they enjoyed our members’ evening and found us to be a friendly, welcoming and achieving bunch of members!

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Betty Freeman 

We will all miss Betty Freeman, our longest serving member, who died recently. Betty joined our club in 1982 and was an active and enthusiastic member for 25 or more years until ill health meant that she had to take a less active role in the club. However, this did not prevent her giving whole-hearted support to everything the club was doing and we were particularly pleased that she managed to participate in the writing competition which we ran two years ago: she was a very effective member of the team which shortlisted the entries.

Over the years, Betty held several offices in the club: secretary 1983-4; president 1986; regional representative 1984 and programme action lead 1987 as well as being active on various committees until 2008. In recognition of her longstanding service to Soroptimism, she was made an honorary member of SI Richmond and Dales in 2012.
Her contribution to other areas of life was no less enthusiastic. She had a great love of literature and as a teacher of English she inspired many pupils, indeed one of our members was taught by Betty and was inspired to write by Betty’s enthusiasm. Betty also worked extremely hard supporting those with muscular dystrophy. In 1983 she founded the Richmond Branch of the Muscular Dystrophy charity and chaired it until 1995.  Betty was for many years a guide and volunteer at Kiplin Hall and also worked tirelessly for the Georgian Theatre where she carried out every volunteer role from secretary to the board to guiding visitors to working behind the bar. She was awarded the MBE in 1995 for services to the community.

We will remember Betty’s friendliness and ability to enjoy life as well her determination to make the world a better place. She was a very cultured, knowledgeable and committed woman with an unbeatable zest for life. Her wisdom and intellect will be sadly missed.

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Club meeting January 2015 – Sheila Harrisson and Jenny Cathcart

This month we welcomed back Drs. John and Iris Rhodes from the Mercy Ships to give us an update on their work. We were once again amazed at the dedication and care shown by the professionals who staff their current ship Africa Mercy. The difference made by surgery and therapy to lives which have been blighted by disfiguring and disabling conditions is inspiring. We were pleased to be able to hand over a cheque for £850 and several bags of toothbrushes and toothpaste (see article from 2014) http://www.mercyships.org

Our speakers this month were our president Sheila and fellow club member Jenny who between them took us on a fascinating tour of the development of the poor law and the evolution of the workhouses, with particular mention given to the workhouses in our local area.

For the first time in a while we found ourselves back at Richmond Golf Club for our monthly meeting. We have generally regarded the Golf Club as our winter ‘home’, but due to recent changes at the club we have been unable to meet there since last spring. It was nice to be back!