CLUB REPORT SI SEVENOAKS April 2020-21
This has been the year of Zoom! …which has enabled the Club to function thanks to Penny & Jenny…kept us in touch with Region ……and which made me think of a Z to A guide for the Club year. Z = Zoom Y= Year
X is for the crosses put on all the ballot papers received from SIGBI
W would be for supporting International women’s day by participating in the Close the gender gap movement; President Penny laying a wreath of poppies on Remembrance Sunday, albeit without the usual ceremony on the Vine; a talk on witchcraft and lobbying letters to our MP on better legislation to help women victims of abuse.
V would be all the voluntary work and a social lunch at the Mount Vineyard café in the short window of time in the Summer when it was possible to meet each other.
U for support of UN days as in November “Orange the world” –elimination of gender based violence. And always bearing in mind the UN sustainable development goals when we plan our projects.
T must be tree planting near the Vine café – Pat Downing’s suggestion followed up by the purchase of an amelanchier canadensis in liaison with the Town Council, who have also purchased Soroptimist tulips.
S & R brings us to shawls which have been donated to Syrian Refugee families in Sevenoaks as the pandemic has temporarily closed the route to the Hamlin Fistula hospital in Addis Ababa. S also for our friendship link St Helens with whom Shirley Brigham keeps in touch and the Shares we bought to support the SI Residential Club in Bayswater Rd .
R for Christmas treats on a plate for Rockdale residents.
Q for the Christmas quiz at our virtual Christmas party.
And probably the most important letter is P for PAFFS (Programme Action Focus Forms ) sent to the Federation conscientiously & regularly by Isobel Groves and reaching the grand record total for our Club of 30, indicating all the continuing work even during lockdown. And of course the 5 x Ps which are the areas of our action Peace, People, Planet, Partnerships & Prosperity
O is for our overseas links – we sent Christmas news sheets to SI Fribourg, Switzerland & SI Cobran Barooga inc. in Australia : and of course we have our Regional President Grace Onions !
N brings us to the monthly Regional newsletters which have been very full and colourful
M is very important, standing for membership. We finished the Club year with 22 members which included Beverley who joined during lockdown & our student member Rachel.
Macmillan Coffee mornings were also held with reduced numbers or virtually, but equally lucrative.
L is covered by a talk on the Sackville leopards at Knole on the lighter side; but also for lobbying – on domestic abuse, provision of a vaccination centre in Edenbridge and Fairtrade
K, knitting of sensory twiddle muffs for the Hospice
J, a regional meeting talk by the first female jet pilot
I equals Instagram – worked on for hours by Penny & Rachel and whose pages generate interest about SI Sevenoaks at home & abroad.
H we had a talk on the Hospice by their creative musician
G for Gardening – an outdoor activity which could continue. The gardeners have worked so hard to keep the Vine garden looking good & they felt justifiably proud when Sevenoaks was awarded a gold medal for South & South East England in Bloom. Another G is Gatwick detainees with clothes collections for male detainees being made.
F most recently the support for female fire-fighters in Poland; gifts to the local Food Bank & funding for food parcels in Zimbabwe. Friendship has been particularly important during lockdown.
E Environment – a member carried out litter picking at a local beauty spot.
D for the doves of peace members made for displaying on the Vine for VE & VJ days and the collage thereof created by Penny.
C Camfed – campaign for female education in sub-Saharan Africa has continued to have our support
B – Batch baking for NHS staff at Maidstone Hospital who hadn’t access to canteen facilities & for residents in sheltered accommodation. And last October the virtual SIGBI Conference in Belfast.
And so we reach A our continued support for the charity Arts without boundaries
No doubt you can think of other points which characterised this strangest of years of not being able to meet, but perhaps there is enough content to show that SI Sevenoaks has been far from inactive under the leadership of President Penny.
April 2021 – Isobel White Club Secretary SI Sevenoaks