Soroptimists in Scotland were delighted to be able to meet up ‘in person’ and to welcome International President Elect Maureen, SIGBI President Cathy and President Elect Ruth to our celebration. It was also an  opportunity to showcase the work of clubs in Scotland  from Easter Ross to the proposed Club in Dumfries.  The Programme Action presentations focused on our contribution the SDGs locally, nationally, and internationally. We made new contacts with MSPs and invited guests while launching the new Scotland, U N and SIGBI History banners.  

As part of the Soroptimist International (SI) centenary celebrations, Associate Soroptimist Jean Campbell has been delighted to plant rowan and apple trees locally, which is also being recognised as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project.  She has also funded the purchase of 200 mangroves supporting the Scotland North Region Indian project.  Jean was delighted to have help from the Blairgowrie & Rattray Access Network  (BRAN), a volunteer organisation which maintains the many local country walks.  One photograph shows Jean with one of ‘her’ trees and the other photograph shows Jean with the BRAN volunteers.’

‘Blairgowrie Associate Soroptimist Jean Campbell was keen to replicate one of her projects from last year and having been given permission to so, and along with friends, attached orange ribbons to the railings around the Wellmeadow park, the centre of Blairgowrie which is passed by all road users in and out of Blairgowrie. See photographs. Jean has also been overwhelmed with support from local shopkeepers in Blairgowrie and in Alyth. As last year, she visited all shops with information, posters and balloons asking them to display their support for the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women campaign (25th November – 10 December. Orange is the bright and optimistic colour of the campaign. As you can see from the photographs many imaginative images were presented in their window displays and she is very grateful for their support. As a result of this project,

SI Associate Member, Jean Campbell alerts Blairgowrie & Rattray to proposed action re the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women Violence is wrong and evidence clearly shows that the majority of victims of violence are women and girls. This is recognised internationally by the annual 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Day, 25th November – Human Rights Day, 10th December: Last year local Soroptimist Jean Campbell was delighted with the positive response she received from the local shopkeepers who demonstrated their support by ‘oranging’ their window displays and Jean is hoping they will all do the same again, this year.  She will visit all shops shortly and hand out posters for display. The photograph shows one of the orange displays from last year. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/65943624/blairgowrie-rattray-hub-magazine-winter-2021

Blairgowrie Associate Soroptimist Jean Campbell was delighted with the response from East Perthshire residents who responded magnificently to the PKAVS appeal for welcome pack items for the Afghanistan refugee families, who are expected in Perth & Kinross.  The photographs show only part of the collection and Jean wheeling the boxed items into PKAVS at the Gateway. Thank you to all who contributed! #sigbi #ukpac #afghanwomen

Scotland North Associate member Jean Campbell has been doing her bit to help raise the profile of SIGBI Programme Action campaigns. Below is a link for the Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine of which 5,500 are printed and hand delivered to all houses and businesses in the area. https://www.yumpu.com/.../blairgowrie-rattray-hub... Page 30 – alerting everyone to part of the plan for the 16 Days of Activism Page 38 – blister pack recycling Page 41 – lots of re-using & recycling #SIGBI #ukpac

Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine – Summer 2021 SI member from Blairgowrie, Jean Campbell has made the news by saving items from landfill and supporting the excellent cause ‘Smalls for All’. To read the full articles refer to page 22 & page 33 in the link below. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/65608404/blairgowrie-rattray-hub-magazine-summer-2021

On Saturday February 20th Regional President Katie Lang, presided over a meeting with 48 members from across Scotland North in attendance. SI Dundee President, Frances Menter read the mission statement at the start of the Council meeting. Each club gave a short presentation of their PA work and how this was continuing despite the Covid pandemic. One big advantage of Zoom meetings has been that clubs have been able to invite other clubs to their meetings and speakers have been Zooming in from far and near. Region Programme Officer Janice Wilson gave a presentation on how to complete PFRs on the SIGBI website. Members were reminded that if a PFR was not completed then the activity would not be registered at Regional or Federation level. The afternoon speakers were co-founders of the Free to Live Trust, Pam Cairns and Avril Duncan. Pam gave a brief history

Associate member Jean Campbell’s virtual Pilates class friends have been delighted to drop off bedding, etc., to her garage.  The donated items were then ‘isolated’ for two weeks before being sorted and delivered to the Churches Action for the Homeless (CATH) Day Centre in Perth for the benefit of those who use CATH’s services.’ Jean also donated cutlery and crockery  to Starter Packs, Perth, a small,volunteer-led charity which provides the essentials for people who have fallen on hard times.’ Well done Jean.