Five Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District attended the annual Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) Conference this year in 24-26 Oct in Bournemouth – they are pictured here from l to r Becca Powell, Denise Powell, Ann Beatty, Ameeta Sabharwal, Jane Slatter (plus the Club’s mascot Sally Bear). To read the reports on each of the sessions see the Conference website www.sigbi.org/bournemouth2019 then click on the Friday and Saturday sessions using the additional menu options for the difference sessions of the day either at the side or at the top.
To get a feel for how much our Club Members enjoyed the experience please click through the photo slideshow below. There would have been seven of us but sadly two of our Members were unable to attend at the last minute. The theme was #ThinkOnIt and included some inspiring and thought provoking speakers on mental health. One of the speakers Katy spoke very movingly about how working with the charity Toilet Twinning has helped her manage to own mental health – click here to read more and please watch the inspiring video too www.sigbi.org/bournemouth2019/friday-sessions/katy/ Toilet Twinning is a charity very close to the hearts of the St Albans Club as we move towards the goal of St Albans becoming a Toilet Twinned City. We were all very proud to be there to support Denise Powell’s installation as President of Soroptimist International London Chilterns Region, the Region our Club belongs to. It’s not just Soroptimists who enjoyed the experience – two husbands a brother-in-law and a son were guests of Members of our Club this year too. Denise’s sister is also a Soroptimist so she was thrilled and moved to have her family around her to share this special event and feel their love and support. Members of the Region plus guests were invited to join Denise for a lovely dinner together on the Friday evening. Soroptimist Conferences are always an opportunity for Soroptimist friendship – we were able to catch up with two past Members of the Club Hilary Ratcliffe and Indira Biswas-Benbow (with her daughter Natasha), plus cementing existing friendships and making new ones.
Fancy coming next year? put the date in your diary now! Thur 29 to Sat 31 Oct the SIGBI Annual Conference will be in Belfast with the Soroptimist theme that will run from Nov 2019 to Oct 2020 “We Stand Up for Women” www.sigbi.org/belfast2020/