Our last batch of Trauma Teddies [or so we thought!] DC James Hookway the Police member of the East Sussex MASH [Multi Agency Working and Information Sharing Project] safeguarding team collected the last batch of  70 Teddies [or so we thought] from Sevenoaks on 8th December and was greeted by Isobel Groves and Shirley Brigham, members of the Sevenoaks club and Maureen Clarke, a  friend of Sevenoaks Soroptimists who kindly joined in the knitting Teddies project  with gusto. James covers Hastings, Eastbourne and Brighton. Through his work he is able to distribute the Teddies to Social Workers working in Children’s Services in those towns. In his words ‘we can’t have too many Teddies’ please make more!!’ Shirley and Maureen together with Linda Larter, another club member, have knitted 190 bears and now, at the request of the police, with more to come. The bears went

Knitting Christmas Stars for residents in Care Homes in Sevenoaks Knitting or making Christmas stars of hope for every resident in two care homes in Sevenoaks is the initiative of a Church of England Vicar who is now able to visit two care homes, Emily Jackson and Rockdale on a regular basis. Due to the pandemic and lockdowns it had not been possible to see residents on a regular basis. The resumption of this service encourages hope.Giving the residents a Christmas star is a symbol and a reminder of it. Club member Shirley Brigham has knitted 12 stars to add to the star collection and the Soroptimist contribution has been greatly appreciated. President Pat Downing adds that ‘this initiative is close to the hearts of Sevenoaks Soroptimists as the club holds their monthly club meetings at Rockdale which was started by a Sevenoaks Soroptimist Beatrice

The Suffragettes were chosen as our November club meeting focus as we are acknowledging the UN Day Elimination of Violence Against Women. Thank you to Jenny Godfrey who gave club members an excellent talk on Suffragettes in Kent sharing their stories. Suffragettes played a pivotal role in assuring that women’s voices were heard & suffered violence achieving it. So wholly appropriate that the meeting was dedicated to all women who have suffered any form of violence and have died from acts of violence.

SI Sevenoaks Garden Project 2018 to date Supporting Sevenoaks Town Council in South and South East England In Bloom competition and RHS Community Awards Competition   [ formerly Britain In Bloom] UN sustainability development goals:   Goal 3 good health and wellbeing.  Goal four quality education.  Goal 11 sustainable cities and communities.  Goal 13 climate action. Goal17. partnerships to achieve  the goal.  In May 2018 a club member saw a note on a Sevenoaks Vine Park gate seeking support from gardening volunteers for Sevenoaks Town Council’s entries in the In Bloom competitions. Eight club members responded with enthusiasm.  These members, whose total age is 586 years, remain totally committed to the gardening and willing to continue as long as they can. The town council is delighted with this response.  Open Spaces manager Nicholas Cave suggested the restoration of the sensory bed. This bed is now a real

Mission accomplished! SI Sevenoaks did it Target of 100 Trauma Bears achieved! Since the launch of the UKPAC Centenary Trauma Bear challenge knitters in Sevenoaks have been permanently attached to their knitting needles producing Teddies to the extent that the local haberdasher’s shop has run out of stuffing! The shop owner asked the question “is everyone knitting Teddies in Sevenoaks? “ Fortunately supplies are still available online! To date SI Sevenoaks has made 101 bears. Two members, Shirley Brigham has made 55, Linda Larter has made 6 and a friend of SI Sevenoaks, Maureen Clark has made 40. The bears have been given to the West Kent Police Safeguarding Team who are already using them commenting how helpful they are as a de stressor for the children. Bears have been given to the Probation Service, Maidstone for use in Women’s Refuges Word about the Trauma

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

Colin Preston of Keyhole Surgery gave us a humorous and informative talk entitled “Breaking and Entering” all about his career as a locksmith providing valuable advice about securing our homes. President Penny had chosen this talk in line with Regional President Lorna Blackmore’s strap line “Secure in the present Secure in the future”.

President Penelope Robbins was invited by Sue Marlow to help members from Arts without Boundaries to “get stuck” into the Arty Farty Lantern Workshop. It was a fun afternoon joined by members from sister club SI Tunbridge Wells. Lanterns of all shapes and sizes were being created for the Winter Lantern Parade taking place on 8th February starting at 5:30pm from 17 Calverley Road Tunbridge Wells. We were delighted to take part in the workshop and in continuing our partnership with Arts without Boundaries please do check out our website for more details of the charity and their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/artswithoutboundaries.org.uk/ https://sigbi.org/sevenoaks/what-we-do/

This month club members Ann, Pauline, Jenny and Penny had the great pleasure of helping prepare and serve the homemade cream tea, sandwiches and with lots of cake! at Monday Afternooners. What an amazing and inspiring group they are.   Club member Ann HInes explains about the group – Monday Afternooners is a club for adults with physical disabilities, mainly Cerebral Palsy.  It was set up originally by Bromley Scope, but some years ago was included in Bromley Mencap as a much larger organisation. They could offer MA members access to more services. The club meets monthly on the last Monday of the month.  They go on outings, meals out, and speakers or entertainment on the Mondays.  They always meet for outings or use a room at the care home Durham House in Bromley.  One of the members lives in this home, others independently or

We welcomed Sue Marlow of Band without Boundaries to our club meeting on Tuesday 8th October. It was a great pleasure to present Sue with instruments for the band that we had purchased with monies raised from raffles we had held earlier in the year. Band without Boundaries currently meet at Amherst School in Riverhead and borrow their instruments, so we are very pleased to be fundraising for this wonderful band to have their own instruments for practice nights and for various gigs/events that they attend. Please check out our Link to our club page explaining more about the charity https://sigbi.org/sevenoaks/what-we-do/ and their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/artswithoutboundaries.org.uk/