In the spirit of ‘Hanami’ – the Japanese celebration that literally means “flower viewing”, but commonly refers to cherry blossom viewing – members of the club visited our 3 cherry trees at Lee-on-the-Solent Recreation Ground.  We had arranged for them to be planted by Gosport Council in 2021, to celebrate the centenary of Soroptimist International.  They were accompanied by a plaque, also stating that the trees were in memory of past club members.  All trees are coming into bloom and looking healthy.

At each club meeting the tin is put round to collect any small silver change for the Barbara Watts Volunteering in Pretoria project.  We use the same tin every time, which (at great personal cost) was emptied of the double dipped chocolate almonds! The project was born out of the Friendship Link between SI Southern England (region) and SI South Africa, and has been running for a number of years. We are currently supporting a young woman called Leah, covering her living and working expenses.  She is from a township, and had just graduated as a qualified social worker, but her skills would have been lost without this opportunity.  In her work at Pretoria Psychologists she is improving her understanding of mental health issues and developing programmes to deliver support to those who suffer from these debilitating illnesses, particularly within the townships.  She has brought

The lunar new year was celebrated on 10 February this year; it is the Chinese Year of the Dragon.  It is the only mythical creature in the Chinese zodiac, and the dragon has long been associated with prosperity and imperial power. We hope that this auspicious sign will continue for the club through the year.

   Although January is usually a quiet month, the club celebrated the festive season at the traditional Epiphany Dinner.  It serves as a friendly occasion after the usual December disruption, and a good start to the New Year. The club has always tried to support the Bishops Waltham in Bloom annual Quiz, in memory of past club member Pam Simcock.  We nearly missed getting a table for this year, but they graciously squeezed us in because we were the runners up last year.  This year we only managed to come 9th, but were pleased with that result out of 27 teams.  It was a most enjoyable evening for the 7 of us that made up the team.

The club traditionally provides Christmas gift bags for the local members of Re-Engage. These are coordinated by club member Alison, with help from Rosemary Bell. These have been assembled and delivered for this year.Happy Christmas to all involved.

Three members from the club have been attending the Sorpotimist International convention this week in Dublin.  Every club worldwide had been challenged to design and submit a poster for display at the convention.  Our club had one accepted, as did other clubs from our region. Our poster was about the support we gave to WaterAid over the last few years, raising money to provide plumbing, toilets and hygiene lessons to primary schools in two regions of Rwanda.  A water theme had been chosen when we rebranded as SI Solent East, because of our proximity to the coast. A total of £5,000 was raised for the WaterAid project, which helped provide access to clean water and toilet blocks for 80 schools in Rwanda.

We have recently made 8 wash bags for the local refuges. As part of our new project ‘Are You Safe at Home?’ we are supporting the women and children in the local refuges.  Part of this is to provide a wash bag for new arrivals.  The bags were made by a club member, and the contents were assembled from donated toiletries. This was quickly recognised as an easy practical aspect of the project, while we investigated and defined the other support that we might provide.  It also formed a tangible example (and photo opportunity!) for our entry in the regional Programme Action competition, with a closing date of 31 July.  

In 2021 we planted three cherry trees for the Soroptimist International centenary.  We worked with the local council to get them planted, at Lee-on-the-Solent Recreation Ground.  There is a dedication plaque for past members of the club. Two years on, the trees are well established and full of spring blossom.  We are very pleased with their progress and ensure we visit them regularly!

Some club members supported the Bishops Waltham in Bloom quiz on 27 January 2023.  The last time they had managed to host a quiz in person was in 2020 as shown in the photograph. This year there were 25 tables in all and 2 were made up Soroptimist club members and friends/family.  One of the teams, called The Optimists, finished in third place overall.  After a tentative start with the TV theme tune round, the team improved throughout the evening, scoring a perfect 20 points on the Cryptic British Towns round and 19 for the Dingbats during supper. Congratulations all round!

Club member Alison had some material left over from all her quilting projects! So of course she made the scraps up into something beautiful – these small quilts for the neo-natal units in Queen Alexandra hospital Portsmouth, and Princess Anne hospital Southampton. She makes about 2-3 each month, and donates them via the Meon Valley quilting group.