The club played host to past Federation President Liz Batten (better known as Morgan-Lewis professionally, but nearly 5 years married so finally using her proper name!). Pam Grosvenor, on the right, introduced her as the club mentor for this year, and that she was here to tell us how to run the club! That was a tall order, so Liz opted for a more informal approach, sharing how others were experimenting as ‘light-touch’ clubs, but still getting the benefits of SI membership: as she said, “if you’re still making a difference to the lives of women and girls, and enjoying what you are doing, then it doesn’t matter if you don’t have all the officers of a club.” The key to success is ensuring that Programme Action is central to what we do – Liz reminisced about the range of projects we had been involved

Picture the scene – a wet Sunday by the sea. It is dank and drear. Even the hardy dog-walkers have forsaken the beach. But at the Wheelhouse at Hill Head (borrowed from a local Rotary Club for the occasion) is a scene of merriment. Members of SI Gosport, Fareham and district, led by this month’s president Stella Astbury are hosting a Friendship Lunch. Good food, good friends, a glass of wine, good chat that’s all you need. Good weather’s an extra!  

Grime doesn’t pay…… ….was the intriguing title of the talk given by Robert Heathcock, the, intriguingly entitled, Assistant Director (High Quality Environment) at Winchester City Council. Robert explained that life in Environmental Health is nothing like the strereotype of a health inspector depicted in an episode of ‘Fawlty Towers’ (and we were treated to a short clip as a reminder). It’s not just inspecting kitchens and killing rats! Environmental Health is far removed from the Public Health Inspector of old and is now a highly technical profession covering a wide range of areas vital to the health, safety and welfare of the community. Food safety is still an important area of work and includes inspecting restaurants and other food providers. The council issues food hygiene rating certificates indicating the level of hygiene in the kitchens to help customers decide if it is a place they

Sue Dyer from SI Woking, pictured above right with Rosemary Bell, one of our executive members,  came to talk to the club about SOS Mamelodi House. The SOS Children’s Charity helps children whose lives are at stake as a result of being part of HIV affected families and are sick themselves.  The charity sets up educational and social opportunities and the Mamelodi Houses provide homes in a children’s village.  Mamelodi House No 1 is supported by SI South Africa with assistance from SI Southern England.  A former president of SI Southern England, Sue was keen during her year of office to strengthen the link that existed with SI South Africa and was instrumental in providing help from Southern England. Mamelodi, a mainly black township, is situated in the high plains 30k north of Pretoria.  It is estimated that there are more than 1.2 million HIV

CLUB members were given an insight into the enormous amount of planning and work that had gone into the Dickens 2012 exhibition being held at Portsmouth museum this year to mark the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birth in the city. Rosalinda Hardiman, collections manager at the museum and a club member, said that the idea for the “A Tale of One City” exhibition was first mooted six years ago. The fascinating number of items on show offers an insight into the lives of ordinary people who lived in the city in Dickens’ day related through themes such as crime, work, money, health, education and love. Exhibits range from projects created by community groups in Portsmouth to something particularly special – part of the original manuscript of Nicholas Nickleby, the only Dickens book to mention Portsmouth. This was borrowed from the British Library in London

The 9th lean lunch was held in Whiteley, Fareham this Saturday. It was originally set up by 6 local Soroptimist clubs to promote the International quadrennial project – first Project Independence then SIerra. This time members from Southampton, Winchester and Chichester, as well as regional President Rita from Reigate, joined Gosport and Fareham club for the event. Any money surplus will be sent to Mamelodi House, for AIDS orphans in South Africa. There were 3 speeches after the ‘lean’ lunch of bread and cheese with fruit and coffee. Christine Wilkes spoke first about the club’s project to put bookmarks into secondary schools, showing on one side the characteristics of a loving relationship and on the other the indicators of abuse. The sides are labelled: Loves me…, Loves me not. Tracy Gardiner then talked about the Bee Plus project that had been developed by the SI