Jackie Paling recently won a photographic competition with her stunning picture of an elderly Afghan man.  The prize includes an enlargement of the original photo, a camera and £50.  Jackie always travels with a camera and has now visited Afghanistan several times. Following her latest visit in the Spring she gave an updated talk to the club at its last meeting concerning the current situation and its impact on women in Kabul and the surrounding area.  Sadly this war-torn country still desparately needs help and the women still struggle to find work.  Jackie has been helping a Belgian charity ‘Mothers for Peace’ which provides aid to women in a village north of Kabul.  Jackie has given handicraft classes and organised supplies of fabric and wool.  She also organised the provision of unwanted electric sewing machines from the UK but sadly the power supply is not

A jumble sale was held on Friday 15th August at St Luke’s Church Hall in Maidenhead to boost funds for the club’s General Charity. The event was very well attended and £150 was raised. This fund is used to provide donations to various local charities at Christmas.

Two groups of members visited the nearby country house, Dorney Court,  at the beginning of August.  The home of the Palmer family is an unusual property which is often used for scenes from Midsommer Murders.

Around 80 members and guests attended the Garden Party held at Clock Tower House on Sunday 20th July. The garden was a mass of tables, chairs and gazebos with a busy book stall and tombola. Everyone tucked into a delicious lunch which had been organised by Angela and was greatly appreciated. Two Regional Presidents attended from London Chilterns and Southern England together with guests from Kingston Club, London Mayfair, Windsor Rotary and Inner Wheel. President Jean thanked everyone for coming and for contributing to her charity for the year: Slough Contact Centre.  The event raised over £1000 for the Slough Contact Centre.

At the March meeting of the club a special present to mark a significant birthday was made to founder member Pamela Robotham. Sadly Pamela is the only remaining founder member of the club. The gift of honorary membership is bestowed rarely but is greatly deserved by Pamela who has been a hard working member of the club. The photograph shows President Lucy with Pam.

SI Slough Windsor & Maidenhead has been very busy over the last few weeks. On Saturday 28th June a group of members took part in the Midsummer Fayre in Windsor organised by the Windsor Rotary Clubs. A stand selling plants grown by members was set up. Over £100 was raised for the President’s Charity and members met the Mayor and the local press. On Saturday 12th July, ten members got together to organise sandwiches and rolls for the Thames Valley Hospice Fayre and later helped with the serving too. This event has been running for 20 years now and the club has always provided support and volunteers. On Sunday 13th July a tea party was held to celebrate Vi Smith’s 90th birthday. Vi has been a member for many decades and is still a keen supporter of the club. The tea included another superb cake