Supporting each other, sharing our challenges and successes
On Monday 18 May the Club held its first Virtual Club Meeting on Zoom – SISTAs in Lockdown. One Member said, and everyone agreed, it was “super”!
16 Members attended – plus the Club’s mascot Sally Bear (of course!).
One Member who isn’t online joined by telephone.
Katherine and Sarah ran the meeting really well and we made some decisions about making additional donations to three local charities close to our hearts who are really in need of financial support at the moment – Home-Start Herts, the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and the Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline.
Everyone on the call shared their experiences of lockdown – challenges and successes.
There were some shared experiences – positive and negative. Most Members agreed that it the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown feels like a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and it is challenging to manage our emotions. Everyone seemed to have concerns about loved ones or are missing seeing them, but are making use of technology to make the best of it. Living alone is the toughest. Some have family members who have returned to live at home and some are living away – both situations are challenging.
As you may expect, most Soroptimists are helping their local communities where they live and supporting Soroptimists and the other organisations they are involved with.
Members who are working are doing it in very different ways than they would normally to minimise risks.
Many Members have got to know their neighbours better since the lockdown and are enjoying new friendships – VE Day seems to have helped neighbours share the feeling of “all being in it together”. One Member had a neighbour who had died from the virus which seemed to bring the neighbours closer to support one another.
New hobbies have emerged and existing ones indulged – singing, jigsaws, gardening, taking part in quizzes, language and technology learning to name a few. People are enjoying how beautiful nature is and how lucky we are where we live seeing bluebells and hearing birdsong.
One of our Members lost her elderly mother during lockdown which was really hard. A positive that came out of it was that she was amazed what a help technology had been using Zoom for the funeral and the mourning – connecting with many people who may not have been able to honour her mother’s passing even in normal circumstances.
Joan, our “Mother of the Club” who is our longest standing Member had a birthday during lockdown and said “I think it was the best birthday since my 21st – everyone was so kind – with friends phoning from as far away as California, flowers being delivered and neighbours bringing round cake and bunting!”
We agreed that it was lovely to see/hear one another and that the meeting had been a great success therefore we are planning future virtual events for Club Members. The Club Programme includes dates and will be updated with details of themes and speakers as soon as they are confirmed www.sigbi.org/st-albans/club-programme/
If you would like to join us for future events we’d love to hear from you by email at sistalbans@hotmail.com