During December club members continued to help with the Tuesday Club at Age Concern Windsor and also ran a very successful Quiz which was not only enjoyed by the participants but raised over £350 for the Spencer Denny Centre.  Following that club members helped with the Christmas Fayre at the Centre and again raised funds for the activities organised by Age Concern Windsor. The club is now meeting regularly at the Spencer Denny Centre which has good facilities for speakers who wish to use Zoom and is also very comfortable. On 7th December the club celebrated Christmas with a splendid three course dinner at the Greene Oak  in Dedworth Windsor.  The food was extremely good and everyone had a great evening.  A raffle was run by Irene and Marylin with the funds raised being donated to DASH (Domestic Abuse Stops Here).  Club members have also

Jackie Paling was delighted to have an opportunity to meet the President of SI Katmandu at the recent conference in London.  SI Slough Windsor & Maidenhead have sponsored law student Asmita through her degree course at university in Katmandu.

At the Annual General Meeting of SI Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead yesterday, Mrs Jean Sinclair took over as President of the Club from Mrs Margaret Lenton.  Margaret had served as President for two years which of course had been significantly affected by Covid.  Margaret was thanked for all her hard work in rather difficult circumstances and was presented with a bouquet and a present. Jean told club members that she was looking forward to her year in office and hoped to partner with other organisations and gain more awareness of the club and its activities.  The President’s charity will be the DASH organisation (Domestic Abuse Stops Here).

For many years SI Slough Windsor & Maidenhead has had an involvement with the Spencer Denny Centre – Age Concern Windsor.  The Centre had to curtail its activities during the lockdown and it is gradually reopening and getting back to providing services for over-55s in the Windsor area.  Whilst the centre is now open on three days per week, the management wished to provide some activities on a Tuesday.  Club members agreed to volunteer to help run a Tuesday Club from midday to 3.30 on two Tuesdays per month. The club provides lunch and entertainment such as a quiz or bingo.  There will also be a pantomime in December and a Christmas Fayre on 26th November.

In March we celebrated our Diamond Anniversary with a weekend of events but due to the impact of Covid there was one postponement.  So on Saturday 22nd October there was a final event when President Margaret joined club members for an afternoon concert composed of Music either composed by or played by Women.  In fact in one case the musician was both the composer and the pianist.  The remarkable Alma Deutscher was a revelation to everyone: a child prodigy who is now 17 and has already composed an opera and is currently creating another for performance at Salzburg next year.  She plays the piano, and violin and also conducts!  It was also wonderful to know that she lives in Basingstoke!  Members very much enjoyed all the music which included pieces by a Ukranian composer currently still living in Kiev.  Wine and refreshments were also available.

Several members of the club have been working with Club President Margaret Lenton to improve the Heritage Garden near to Windsor Guildhall in time for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.  The garden had become sadly overgrown and weedy but is now looking smart and attractive again.

Club members have been making progress in upgrading the Memorial Garden in Windsor near to the castle so that it will be looking its best in time for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend.  President Margaret is working with Judy, Jackie and Sally.

SI Slough Windsor & Maidenhead held a very successful lunch at Stirrups Hotel on Sunday 10th October.  This event had been postponed twice due to Covid restrictions so it was particularly enjoyed by almost fifty members and guests.  A reception with glasses of Pimms provided a good opportunity for mingling and chatting prior to a three course lunch.  After toasts to Soroptimist International and ‘Our Guests’, Richard Goss who is a trustee of Thames Hospicecare talked about the amazing work which is undertaken by the Hospice.  He explained how the new site was enabling more patients to be treated and how the facilities were also available to members of the public who just wanted to drop in to have a cup of coffee.  He paid tribute to the huge number of volunteers including members of our club.  President Margaret presented Richard with a cheque from

London Chilterns President Helen Byrne zoomed into the club’s meeting on Wednesday 21st July and gave an update about her rather unusual year in office whilst dealing with a pandemic.  Despite the problems in being restricted to virtual meetings, she was enjoying meeting many clubs and was also making progress in linking up the London based clubs in both London Chilterns and London Anglia together with clubs on the fringes of London in Southern Region.  She hopes that creating a London oriented group will make it more straightforward to attract more members in the London area.