Thanks to the wonders of technology SI Slough had a delightful meeting with their Friendship Link club in Amsterdam on Wednesday 5th August.  Five members of the Amsterdam Amstel club were able to join SI Slough members to discuss a range of topics from the problems arising from the Covid19 lockdown to current club activities and hopes for the future.  All the members introduced themselves and talked about their time as Soroptimists and the various projects in which they were involved.  Interestingly both clubs are very involved with Domestic Abuse issues.  The clubs plan to meet up again via Zoom.

The June meeting fell in Ascot week this year so although we could only meet via Zoom we did our best to dress up with members wearing hats.  On a more serious note, Tracy and Janice joined us to talk about Windsor Family Friends, a local charity which helps families through difficult times.  Like many charities it is suffering financial problems at present but also needs volunteers to work with families and their children.  The club is considering ways to assist in the future.  Not only were all the members participating from their homes but Janice was on line from France where she is spending lockdown.  Future events including the Centenary of Soroptimist International and our own Diamond Anniversary in 2022 were discussed together with ongoing activities.  Two prospective members joined the meeting.

As the lockdown has continued our club members have gradually embraced the virtual world.  A Zoom licence has been purchased and hence the monthly meeting is now held in this way.  A weekly chat has been set up at Tuesday lunchtime which is proving popular and several committees including the Executive meeting, Fund Raising, Membership and Communications are using the Zoom system.  Now that some face to face meetings are feasible outdoors some committees will try to meet in members gardens.

SI Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead held their Annual General Meeting via Zoom on Wednesday 20th May.  18 members were able to participate in the virtual meeting.  Sally Radford was elected as President. Sally welcomed members who were able to attend from their own homes and looked forward to being able to welcome everyone back to meetings in person.

Mandy Barter set up her own charity My Cancer My Choices after surviving cancer in 2015.  This operation which is entirely run by volunteers now offers treatments including reflexology and acupuncture at three NHS sites in Berkshire.  The aim is to provide complementary therapies which assist in pain and stress  during and after chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  In a recent survey 97% of clients found that the therapies had helped them cope. Mandy has tremendous enthusiasm and is truly making a great difference to the lives of men and women who have received such devastating diagnoses and often feel that there is nothing that they can do to help themselves.  Its a remarkable achievement.