A chance conversation between Margaret Baker (SI Bolton and Secretary, SI South Lancashire) and Jenny Stanistreet (SI Crosby) resulted in a Nepalese Soroptimist getting the chance ‘to see the sea’.
Dipa Khakurel, a hydropower engineer, is a member of one of the youngest clubs, in Kathmandu. Margaret had travelled to Nepal when Federation President Maureen Maguire chartered the club, and had met all the new Soroptimists. Therefore, when Dipa came to the UK to attend the 2012 Federation Conference in Belfast, Margaret ensured that she was well looked after.
It transpired that Dipa had never seen the sea, and Margaret wondered where to take her. The offer of hospitality in Crosby was, therefore, very welcome.
Despite the chill wind the trio walked along the beach, collected seashells, and viewed Antony Gormley’s sculptures ‘Another Place’. This artwork consists of 100 cast-iron, life-size figures spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore, stretching almost one kilometre out to sea. Each figure – made from casts of the artist’s own body – weighs 650 kilos. (Jenny had pre-warned Dipa about how realistic the statues are!)
Crosby’s beachscape may not be traditional, but the Iron Men prompted much discussion over the subsequent long lunch back at Jenny’s.