Taking a few cautious steps out of lockdown, members of SI Salisbury and a number of guests got together – following all the social distancing rules – to mark our first anniversary as a Club.
We had hoped for a picnic in the beautiful garden but the weather wasn’t cooperative so we spread out across the dining room of Hilary’s lovey home, a B&B.
It was so good to see each other again (face to face at last) and as well as a catch up chat with each other we chatted to several local women who are interested in what we do.
President Teresa inducted Hilary as a member and we held a socially distanced change of insignia ceremony as Immediate Past President Lisa handed on the Club chain to Teresa, who handed on hers to President Elect Eleanor.
Change of insignia 2020 style
A game of bingo followed – Hilary’s gorgeous flower arrangements as prizes. The raffle (of course) with £142 raised for club funds, oh, and of course we sang happy birthday to ourselves and ate cake!
There was a lot to celebrate – during our first year since our chartering last August we have successfully bid for a £10,000 National Heritage Lottery grant for our Her Salisbury Story Project. We have collected and delivered over 1000 recycled bras to Smalls for All to distribute to women in Africa. We have put together and delivered a constant supply of overnight bags for female patients in Salisbury District Hospital. We have delivered the third year of our annual STEM Challenge to encourage local girls to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. And most recently we have formed our first Friendship Link with SI Chisinau in Moldova.
The social event was kindly hosted by our brand new member Hilary Maidment in the lovely setting of her beautiful home and garden.
