We recently held our annual tea party with Re-Engage, formerly known as Contact the Elderly. Members from the Southampton group, as well as Gosport and Fareham, were invited to attend. Unfortunately the first group decided against coming on the day, as the weather was quite hot, which meant there was even more tea for the others! And plenty for doggie-bags to take home too.
We held our annual BBQ at the beginning of August, with 29 buying tickets to attend. This is a fund-raising event, so they were supporting our chosen charities for this year. These were Sophie’s Legacy and GAFIRS. It was a lovely day, with plenty of wonderful food, so a good time was had by all. A total of £500 was raised for our charities.
We have just launched a Page on this website for our new project called Titchfield Toppers. We will be working with Titchfield Yarnbombers to create a display for International Women’s Day 2027 on the bollards in the village. Each of the 22 bollards will have a famous woman displayed, with a few details to identify her and a QR code for more information leading to the project page. We look forward to working with the Yarnbombers to make the display in Titchfield (and to make sure the crocheted women are used in local schools afterwards).
Some keen club members set out on a bright morning last week for Lee-on-the-Solent Recreation Ground. They were there to replace the repaired plaque next to one of our 3 cherry trees. They had been waiting patiently for an appropriate day – preferably not raining but while the ground was still soft – to achieve their goal.
At the club’s December meeting members packed Christmas bags. The completed bags will be donated to those from the local Re-Engage groups that we support. It is a fun activity after a business meeting, and was enjoyed by all present. (The picture of us doing this last year was included in the montage at conference in Birmingham) One member of the club had suggested that we also collect socks for the homeless. So there was a cosy pile of socks collected on the side table at the meeting too. These were taken to a contact in Portchester, to donate to the homeless. And the bags for Re-Engage were delivered in time for Christmas!
Last night club member Ros attended the Orange thee World event at the Spinnaker Tower. She met up with Julie, from SI Winchester, who was also there to lend some support. The event was more high profile than before, with a community choir singing a range of songs. SDA members were there in force, as were ladies from Cosham Inner Wheel, who were wielding collecting tins. Both groups were handing out leaflets so awareness was raised! The photo shows Ros and Julie by the SDA banner, and one of the Tower in all it’s orange glory. Ros had taken the opportunity to wear her new orange dry robe, but thinks it’s unflattering: she said “… it makes me look like an orange caterpillar (I just hope there’s a butterfly inside!).”
At our recent club meeting we had a speaker from My Sisters’ House. She asked for any donations of toiletries, and so each member of the club brought what they could. This was later assessed as being worth the equivalent of £233.30 and the charity issued a certificate to recognise the donation.
To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2025 the club has been collecting toiletries to donate to My Sisters’ House. Pauline dropped in at their Chichester base earlier in the week, and more donations have been collected at our business meeting, to be delivered over the weekend. We are happy to continue to support this charity, after we donated £50 as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations last year. They support women in difficulty or crisis. They work with you to improve your welfare and wellbeing, reduce your risk of domestic abuse and support your recovery, and help you reach your goals for employment, education or training. Their services are delivered by women, for women.
The club sent a team to support the local Rotary club Quiz, held to raise funds for The Lockswood Care + Wellbeing Centre (Age Concern), and to subsidise charity users of The Wheel House, Hillhead, like us. The team started well, and was winning after 4 rounds… …but unfortunately the music song words and obscure general knowledge rounds knocked them down to 4th out of 11 teams! Never mind, and well played!
We celebrated the lunar Year of the Snake a little after the actual day, which was on 29 January. Members of the club met for a meal at the local restaurant offering Asian flavours to brighten your winter. It certainly did that! Ros even came suitably adorned with a snake pendant; happy Chinese New Year to us all.
