{"id":1164,"date":"2013-05-13T00:34:46","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T23:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/south-lancashire\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2019-03-05T23:25:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T22:25:27","slug":"opening-minds-soroptimists-in-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/south-lancashire\/2013\/05\/13\/opening-minds-soroptimists-in-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Minds &#8211; Soroptimists in Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-size: small\">Take 140 Soroptimists, a packed programme, plus the opportunity for lively conversation &#8211; and what to you have? The 76<sup>th<\/sup> Joint Regional Conference, 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">[new_royalslider id=&#8221;2&#8243;]Soroptimists from all over the North West gathered at the Preston Marriott Hotel for the event, which was organised jointly by South Lancashire Region and N.W.England &amp; Isle of Man Region. The conference theme was \u2018Opening Minds: to Educate, Empower and Enable\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Federation President Pat Black opened the day by asking delegates to turn the Soroptimist vision into action by setting realistic goals linked to those \u20183 Es\u2019 \u00a0\u2013 and to achieve those goals through time-honoured Awareness, Advocacy and Action. President Pat reminded delegates of her year-long challenge \u2013 each Soroptimist to educate herself, plus provide an opportunity for another women or girl to be educated.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Challenge in a different form came from the next presentation, on the subject of female genital mutilation (FGM). Alison Byrne, a midwife at the African Well Women\u2019s Service, Birmingham, works with victims of FGM. In graphic detail she described the four types, gave some indication of the cultural backgrounds to the practice and signposted delegates to <a title=\"link to forward the foundation for womens health research and development\" href=\"http:\/\/www.forwarduk.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">further information<\/a>. Jean Anderson, a volunteer midwife with \u2018<a title=\"link to beyond fgm\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freewebs.com\/beyondfgm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond FGM<\/a>\u2019 in Kenya, spoke of her positive experiences teaching birth attendants who, in turn, return home to teach others. Her description of a joyful alternative \u2018rite of passage\u2019 for girls was highly emotional.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Delegates\u2019 minds were opened in an entirely different way by Heather Roberts who asked \u2018Why join Soroptimists?\u2019. Her public relations approach offered delegates an uncomfortable perspective of the organisation from the \u2018outside\u2019. There was criticism \u2013 but also many suggestions as to how clubs can consider making their publicity, programme and meetings more attractive to women, particularly those in the \u2018middle\u2019 years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Chris Dunn (<a title=\"link to childline schools service\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nspcc.org.uk\/what-we-do\/the-work-we-do\/childline-services\/childline-schools-service\/childline-schools-service_wda90513.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Childline Schools Service<\/a> &#8211; NSPCC) gave a lively presentation on his work which encourages children to \u2018speak out\u2019 about abuse. Childline\u2019s aim is to hold interactive, age-appropriate sessions with 9-11 year-olds in all primary schools every two years. With the help of his\u00a0green speech-bubble \u2018Buddy\u2019 and a \u2018worry sack\u2019, he demonstrated the effectiveness of the work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Lynne Asbridge and Hazel Stewart from Lancashire Constabulary led delegates through the sometimes murky world of child internet safety. Some preconceptions were overturned; and Lynne raised awareness of the fast-paced communications world of young \u2018digital natives\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">The final speaker was Stuart Ingleson, recently retired from a career in education. Despite a light-hearted approach, Stuart peppered his presentation with observations on the nature of teaching and learning, and \u2013 with a nod to Monty Python\u2019s graphics \u2013 on everyone\u2019s lifelong opportunities to have their mind \u2018opened\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Liz McConnell, President of South Lancashire Region said, \u201cAfter many months of planning by the JRC Committee it was great to see the day run so smoothly. We had a full programme, but our Chair (Judith Grocott, SI Garstang) kept everything on schedule. Plus, delegates were not backward in coming forward when it came to question-time \u2013 and that always adds an \u2018edge\u2019 to the day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u201cFor me \u2013 and, no doubt, for my \u2018opposite number\u2019, Susan Parke-Hatton (President, N.W.England &amp; Isle of Man Region) \u2013 organising this conference was an educational experience in itself. I know we have both met Federation President Pat\u2019s challenge head on!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Take 140 Soroptimists, a packed programme, plus the opportunity for lively conversation &#8211; and what&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":1190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opening Minds - Soroptimists in Conference | News | Blog | Events | SI South Lancashire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SI South Lancashire : Blog &amp; News : Opening Minds - Soroptimists in Conference : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI South Lancashire . 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