Christmas shopping started early with a visit to the Salisbury Christmas Market on 3rd December.  This proved to combine some pleasant shopping with a chance to visit the cathedral or pop into a very convivial pub for a light lunch next to a roaring fire! On the 5th the club held its Christmas meeting at the Sun and Stars in Holyport which  provided a varied selection of meals and got everyone into the Christmas spirit.  The raffle raised £121 for the President’s charity. Donations of £50 were sent to three local charities during the month:  Thames Hospicecare, SHOC and East Berkshire Women’s Aid.  To round off the month, there was an evening of carol singing on 17th December with some mulled wine and mince pies.

Soroptimists in Slough have been busy recently both raising money and enjoying social events.    The speaker at the September meeting was Toni Gowland who spoke about the modern Girl Guide movement. This was followed by a rather more indulgent afternoon with President Pamela at her home when ‘pampering’ was the order of the day.  In October it was rather more competitive when members met for a skittles match.    

Steve Gunn is already working hard with the prospective medallists for the 2018 Olympics!  His talk informed us about the exciting programme that he has been running for the past 7 years to spot prospective Olympic rowers.  They need to be under 19 (or 23 for women) over 2m tall with above average arm length to even be considered but they do not need to have rowed a stroke – in fact its better if they have not as they will not have learnt the wrong habits.  Steve gave a fascinating and enlightening talk about the successes of the British rowing team over the past three decades and the fantastic prospects for the future.  Of course we wish the current team the best of luck too – particularly as they are literally competing in our back yard!

23 members of the club and friends visited Avebury on Sunday 15th July.  Amazingly it was possible to walk around the standing stones in the dry and speculate on how and why our ancient forebears managed to create this remarkable monument.  This NT establishment also has a beautiful manor house with gardens which was home to a remarkably varied group of residents.  Everyone had a delightful day taking in many different historic aspects as well as coming up to date with a delicious cream tea!

The Club is absolutely delighted that the Child Contact Centres of Slough and Maidenhead have jointly been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.  The notification was received on 2nd June.  Slough Child Contact Centre which is one of the three Contact Centres to jointly receive the Award is entirely supported by SI Slough Windsor & Maidenhead.

No sooner had President Pam put on her chain of office than she was called upon to present long service awards to two club members who have each been members for more than 25 years.  She also received one herself for 50 years of membership.  The photographs show Pat and Jackie receiving their awards from President Pam at the recent Annual General Meeting.

The Golden Anniversary weekend was blessed with amazing warm sunshine to greet guests from around Europe.  Members from Amsterdam, Ankara, Brugg-Baden, Coleraine, Morpeth, Tubize  and Old Vilnius were joined by London Chilterns and SIGBI Federation President Maureen for a fabulous weekend.  As the temperatures rose, the overseas guests were able to discard their raincoats and umbrellas and bask in the English summer.  The welcome reception at St Mary’s Church in Slough kicked off with  canapes and bubbly and concluded with some wonderful piano playing by James Church.  The Amsterdam Amstel club brought a present of a Sarah cake which is a typical cake for 50th anniversary celebrations in Holland – not only amusing but edible! On Saturday, members and guests visits Windsor Castle and Eton College or took a bus tour.  In the evening there was a splendid banquet at The White House in Old

The guest list for the Anniversary Dinner on Saturday 23rd March has been enhanced by the agreement of the two Mayors who preside over the area of SI Slough Windsor and Maidenhead to attend.  They will be joining SIGBI President Maureen together with visitors from Friendship Links in Vilnius, Amsterdam Amstel and Morpeth and also Baden, Coleraine and others from SI London Chilterns at this very special evening in the calendar.

February saw the last member of the club taking the plunge into the electronic age – a little reluctantly.  Now all communications to all members can be sent electronically which improves the efficiency of the organisation greatly.  We are very thrilled that all our members have decided to embrace new technology and recently held a coffee, cake and computers coffee morning to give a few tips to the newest converts.  Despite the mixed age groups – with a fair sprinkling of silver surfers – everyone has embraced the 21st century.  In fact our 93 year old member has been on email since she was 80 and is regarded as a ‘Cool Granny’ as she regularly Skypes her grandchildren.