Jackie Paling was welcomed back to the club meeting last night after many months absence due to ill health.  In her last meeting of her year in office she thanked club members for all their support during the year.  In particular she thanked Penny Dmoch for deputising for her at many events and presented her with a hanging basket. At the Annual General Meeting, club members approved a change of structure to the club which would enable the club to operate without a President whilst electing the key officers:  Secretary, Treasurer and Programme Action Officer.  In future, the executive committee will meet regularly to ensure smooth running and a panel of members will chair meetings on an agreed rota. The accounts are being audited but Michele handed out copies of the financial situation and members agreed the subscription rate for the year.

The Annual President’s Lunch on 9th April coincided with the hottest day of the year so was a good opportunity for getting into summer dresses and enjoying a glass of bubbly overlooking the rowing lake in the beautiful surroundings of Dorney Lake.  President Jacky and fifty guests enjoyed a delightful lunch and then had the pleasure of listening to Sue Fortescue describing her work as a translator for the charity Translators without Borders https://translatorswithoutborders.org/  This is an amazing group of professional translators who undertake tasks free of charge to help groups such as immigrants in war zones where there are often barriers to understanding.  Many of the refugees arriving on remote Greek islands do not know where they are let alone what they should do so signs in their own language can be amazingly helpful.  The charity helps in many countries with the actual translators

At the February meeting, Penny Dmoch organised a collection of ‘gently worn’ bra’s and new pants to be sent to the Scottish charity Smalls for All which sends underwear to women in Africa.  This may sound trivial but it can be life-saving as woman who wear underwear are seen to “belong” to someone and are less likely to be attacked and raped. A bagful of underwear is now on its way.

Over 100 members and guests got together on Friday 21st October to form 11 teams and battle to be champions on the night.  The Holyport Memorial Hall proved a very comfortable venue for the very competitive teams.  Despite the fiendish questions set by QuizMaster Margaret, there were quite a few sets of full marks on the various rounds which included Sport, Literature, Food & Drink and Geography.  The winning team received a bottle of wine each. Everyone was able to enjoy fish and chips in the interval which obviously stimulated brain power as there continued to be full marks in the last three rounds for several teams.  Over £500 was raised for the President’s Charities.  It is hoped to organise a similar quiz in the Spring.

On a bright sunny Sunday morning, members and friends got together at Dorney Lake to get some exercise and celebrate International Women’s Day.  A brisk 5 kilometre walk meant everyone was ready for a hearty lunch of soup and sandwiches with other non-walking members at 1pm.  

At the September Business meeting, President Pamela was delighted to welcome the Mayor of the Royal Borough, Councillor Dee Quick as a guest.  The speaker was Stephen Patterson who gave a talk about the Treasures of the Royal Collection which was very well received and interesting.  The photograph shows (L to R) President Pamela, Councillor Dee Quick and Stephen Patterson. .

Steady rain on Sunday 26th forced the annual garden party indoors for the first time in 20 years.  However by the greatest good fortune a wonderful venue was available for a last minute change and the event went ahead at Dorney Lake where all the guests enjoyed a delightful meal and had the opportunity to participate in the raffle, tombola and book stall whilst staying warm and dry.

The Regional Meeting of SI London Chilterns took place in St Albans on Saturday 20th June when several members of SI Slough attended. Forced Marriage was the topic for the morning – with keynote speaker Aneeta Prem, founder of the Freedom Charity www.freedomcharity.org.uk The charity works to empower young people to feel they have the tools, confidence and support around the issues of family relationships which can lead to early and forced marriage and dishonour based violence. Aneeta has been on national TV recently covering these important human rights issues. Women and Engineering was the topic for the afternoon – Vanessa Diaz, Women’s Engineering Society(WES) Council member and an Engineer working in Medical Research gave us a fascinating and highly energetic insight to her work – she is like a human dynamo! It is National Women in Engineering Day on 23 Junewww.wes.org.uk/nwed  –  Vanessa talked about the shockingly few women engineers

At the Annual General Meeting on 15th April, incoming President Pamela took over from Immediate Past President Angela.  Angela spoke of her delight at achieving her fund raising target of £3000 which had enabled her to present significant cheques to her two charities:  Alzheimers Dementia Support and  Berkshire Search & Rescue Dogs. President Pamela thanked Past President Angela for a most successful year and introduced her programme and the charity which she had chosen for the year.

Members got a first hand update on the facilities that have been set up at Wexham Park Hospital to help support cancer sufferers and their families.  The flower shop at the entrance to the hospital has been transformed into a friendly area where advice and support can be provided.  Help will be on hand for dealing with many of the problems facing patients following diagnosis including help with financial issues as well as the medical and emotional problems. Two of the team from Macmillan Cancer Support gave an enthusiastic talk about their work and the difference Macmillan make to patients and their families. A cheque was presented to help with their wonderful work.