Club Projects Archives | SI St Albans and District

Busy Week – Recycling Books and Mock Interviews at STAGS

1 month ago in

Harpenden Sustainability Market

Members of SI St Albans and District, plus one daughter, ran the Club’s Charity Bookstall at the Sustainability Market Harpenden, organised by Sustainable St Albans on Sun May 18. https://sustainablestalbans.org/sustainability-market/. We had loads of second-hand novels and children’s books to sell. This was a Soroptimist “orange day” – to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women and girls. As a bright and optimistic colour, orange represents a future free from the scourge that is violence against women and girls. We were also promoting our Orange the World campaign – 16 days of activism from 25 Nov to 10 Dec – click here to read more https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/2024/orange24/ Money raised was for the SAHWR Refuge supporting victims of domestic abuse https://sahwr.org.uk/. We also gained some exposure for our Club and raised awareness of our Orange the World Campaign. Soroptimists sent a big thanks to

Ann Beatty speaking at Soroptimist Conference Edinburgh

Ann Beatty – Steve Sinnott Foundation Education projects and UN CSW 2025

1 month ago in

Ann Beatty

SI St Albans & District Member Ann Beatty was the speaker at the Club Meeting on Zoom on Mon 12 May. Many of our Club Members were unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances, so we decided to hold meeting on Zoom. It worked really well as an informal session which was more like a conversation with friends. Ann is the Chief Executive of the Steve Sinnott Foundation https://www.stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk, a charity working on education projects around the world, supported by the Club, Soroptimist Yorkshire Region and now by our umbrella organisation, Soroptimist International. She gave us an update on the work of the charity, in particular projects supported by the Soroptimist International Foundation https://www.soroptimistinternational.org/soroptimist-international-foundation/. Ann also told us about her experience of attending the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) online this year. The Steve Sinnott Foundation (SSF) has the strap-line “Changing Lives

Oranging the Soroptimist Charity Quiz Night

3 months ago in

#OrangetheWorld

Soroptimist International St Albans and District’s Charity Quiz Night on Sat 22 March was a a great success raising more than £1400 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and other charities supported by the Club. This is always the Club’s last big fundraiser for the Club’s end of year in April so it was brilliant to be so well supported. Barbara Saunders, co-President of the Club was the MC for the evening keeping everyone to time and and keeping scores too. The Quiz Master was Barbara’s husband, Derek Palmer who challenged everyone’s brain cells on the night with some really interesting and varied rounds – all with multiple choice answers meaning that everyone has a chance to answer the questions. Barbara did a brilliant job supporting Derek as well as organising the event. Ian Byrne organised and ran the music round which meant accessing another

St Albans Soroptimists Season’s Greetings

6 months ago in

Home-Start

Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2025. Instead of sending Christmas cards we are making a donation to the Soroptimist International Foundation soroptimistinternational.org/si-foundation Soroptimists are feeling festive now after a busy December volunteering and raising money for a few of the amazing charities we support. Please scroll down to find out more! Gifts for the SAHWR Women’s Refuge On the Friday before Christmas 2024, St Albans Soroptimist Barbara Saunders said that it was her “privilege and pleasure to deliver the presents Soroptimist members had collected to SAHWR.” With 16 presents lovingly wrapped, and 10 x £20 gift vouchers, she delivered the gifts for children to give to their mothers on Christmas Day. Natasha, the Child and Family Support Worker said “it is just wonderful to see the presents under the tree

Soroptimists Orange The World 2024 -16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women

7 months ago in

#16daysof activism

Soroptimist International St Albans and District #OrangeTheWorldHerts campaign 2024 was brighter and louder than ever! Everyone who joined in committed to CALL IT OUT ! saying NO! to violence against women. Click here for more about how to take action and CALL IT OUT ! : https://sigbi.org/st-albans/callitout Mon 25 Nov – Tue 10 Dec Soroptimists join the United Nations Orange The World campaign – 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women. As a bright and optimistic colour, orange represents a future free from violence against women and girls. www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite/orange-the-world #OrangetheWorldHerts 2024 This year’s theme is CALL IT OUT! – please click here for more: https://sigbi.org/st-albans/callitout moving from awareness raising to a call to action. The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, Annie Brewster is behind our campaign – see the photo here of Annie with our selfie frame with Herts Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan

Is Exercise the Miracle Cure? – Women, Health, Exercise and The Economy

8 months ago in

Prof Scarlett McNally

Soroptimist International St Albans and District organised a special event on Zoom on Mon 28 Oct when *Professor Scarlett McNally spoke on the subject of “Women, Health, Exercise and the Economy – Is Exercise the Miracle Cure?” The recording is available to view here: The slides from Professor Scarlett McNally’s presentation are available to download here – Exercise Presentation 28.10.24 SCARLETT McNALLY Scarlett has been very generous with sharing all of this information with us. Due to time constraints she was only able to touch on some of the material so please go through it in your own time. She is a passionate advocate for exercise and has clear evidence to back up what she is saying which you can see from the statistics and the papers she has included here in her slides. Summary: I have attempted to summarise just some of the key

Bookstall Soroptimist International St Albans 2024 90 for 90 books Helen Sarah Denise Nicky Jane

Orange Charity Bookstall Sustainability Market Harpenden and 90 for 90

11 months ago in

90 for 90

On Sunday 21 July lots of Members of SI St Albans and District, plus one husband and one daughter, ran the Club’s Charity Bookstall at the Sustainability Market Harpenden, organised by Sustainable St Albans https://sustainablestalbans.org/sustainability-market/. We had loads of second-hand novels and children’s books to sell. This was a Soroptimist “orange day” – to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women and girls. As a bright and optimistic colour, orange represents a future free from the scourge that is violence against women and girls. We were also promoting our Orange the World campaign – 16 days of activism from 25 Nov to 10 Dec – click here to read more https://sigbi.org/st-albans/orange24/ We made £275 for the SAHWR Refuge supporting victims of domestic abuse https://sahwr.org.uk/. We also gained some exposure for our Club and raised awareness of our Orange the World Campaign. Soroptimists

Soroptimist Gill Clegg Reports Back from her trip to Zambia at the end of 2023

11 months ago in

Gill Clegg

Revisiting Zambia It was great that so many of our Members were able to join us on Mon 8 Jul at our Club Meeting to hear Gill Clegg’s first hand account of her most recent trip to Zambia. You can click here to read about when Gill gave us a presentation on Zoom in 2023 about her time working in Zambia in 2019: https://sigbi.org/st-albans/zambia In November 2023 Gill and her husband Jon revisited Katete in the Eastern Province of Zambia. Gill showed us printed and laminated photos to pass round at our Club meeting, which brought the stories she was telling to life. It was a lively interactive session with Club Members asking Gill lots of questions about every photo, and Gill answering warmly and openly. Gill started by using maps to show us where Watete in Zambia is. Zambia is a large land-locked African

Harpenden Health and Wellbeing Fair and a Picnic in the Chiswell Green Community Garden

12 months ago in

#OrangetheWorld

It was great for St Albans and District Soroptimist women’s group to participate in the Harpenden Library “Health and Wellbeing Fair” promoting “Orange the World” to End Violence Against Women – asking how will Harpenden people, organisations, businesses turn orange for the 16 Days of Activism 25 Nov to 10 Dec? https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/orange-the-world/ Other organisations were The OLLIE Foundation, Age UK Hertfordshire, Communities 1st, Hertfordshire Health Walks, Harpenden Learning For Leisure, Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care Compassionate Cafe, The Harpenden Trust and Pets As Therapy with Lexa the Labradoodle (pictured on the poster). Jane Slatter and Helen are pictured here on p47 of the 27 June issue of the St Albans Times with Hannah, a volunteer with the Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline. On Thu 27 Jun the Club had a social event at Chiswell Green Community Garden. The evening was arranged by Helen Byrne and the Planet Team.

Soroptimist International with St Albans Women's Cricket Team

Soroptimists win over the St Albans Womens Cricket Team

1 year ago in

#OrangetheWorld

On Monday 10 June we had a lively and interesting evening with 3 members and their coach from the St Albans Cricket Club Women’s Cricket Team. Our Club sponsors women’s cricket in Hertfordshire as a lasting legacy in memory of our Member Audrey Collins OBE – Audrey was an inspirational past member and teacher at STAGS, who played cricket for England. click here to read more https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/projects/cricket/. See below for a photo of the St Albans Women’s Cricket Team wearing the shirts with our logo. The evening proved to be a great opportunity for the St Albans Cricket Team to find out more about our Club’s projects and for us to hear about the challenges and successes of our local women’s cricket team. Our wonderful visitors told us how they had got into playing cricket and what kept them playing. Then India Newman, the Team

Steve Sinnott Foundation for Education – Celebrating 15 Years of Success

1 year ago in

Ann Beatty

It was wonderful to hear from Ann Beatty, Chief Executive Officer of the Steve Sinnott Foundation, on Zoom on Tue 28 May. Soroptimist International St Albans and District are proud to have Ann as a Member of the Club. As the Steve Sinnott Foundation celebrates its 15th year, Ann Beatty gave a presentation and we also heard from one of the Foundation’s Partners in Gambia, Marie Antoinette, who attended on Zoom. They told us about the Foundation’s unique way of working in partnership to support access to education for all. They explained that the education charity develops programmes together with people, and not for them. As a Partner, Marie Antoinette is working on the ground to change the lives of women and girls. We had 22 people on the call, including Foundation Ambassadors Helen Porter from the Winchester Soroptimist Club and our own Ameeta Sabharwal.

Charity Quiz Night a Great Success for St Albans Soroptimists

1 year ago in

Quiz Night

Soroptimist International St Albans and District’s Charity Quiz Night on Sat 23 March was a a great success raising £1150 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and other charities supported by the Club. This is always the Club’s last big fundraiser for the Club’s end of year in April so it was brilliant to be so well supported. Barbara Saunders, co-President of the Club was the MC for the evening keeping everyone to time and and keeping scores too. The Quiz Master was Barbara’s husband, Derek Palmer who challenged everyone’s brain cells on the night with some really interesting and varied rounds – all with multiple choice answers meaning that everyone has a chance to answer the questions. Barbara did a brilliant job supporting Derek as well as organising the event. Ian Byrne organised and ran the music round which meant accessing another part

Soroptimists at the St Albans Girls School Year 11 Mock Interview Day

1 year ago in

Soroptimist

On Thu 18 Jan it was St Albans Girls School (STAGS) Year 11 Mock Interview Day for GCSE year students. St Albans Soroptimists Bev Keech, Helen Atkinson, Linda Middleton, Jane Slatter and Debbie Tankard (pictured here l to r) were five of the thirty + interviewers there for the morning. They found the girls and the event really worthwhile and as inspiring as ever. As part of the careers programme at St Albans Girls’ School, they offer a mock interview to every year 11 student on one morning. Each student has a 20 minute interview based on CV’s they have prepared in school and receive verbal and written feedback. We were welcomed to the event by Margaret Chapman, Executive Head, and Paul Kershaw Head of School. Jessica Flint, Assistant Head Teacher and Careers Lead made sure that the event went smoothly and thanked everyone for their time.

Soroptimist Orange the World 2023 montage

Soroptimists Orange The World 25 Nov for 16 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women

2 years ago in

#16daysof activism

Soroptimist International St Albans and District Oranging the World and saying NO! to violence against women in 2023 #OrangeTheWorldHerts – Ending Abuse is Everyone’s Business The Global, United Nations Orange the World Campaign is 16 days of activism to end gender based violence from 25 Nov, the International Day to end Violence Against Women to 10 Dec, Human Rights Day www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite #OrangetheWorldHerts 2023 – this image is a montage of photos from the 2023 campaign and you can scroll down for the slide show of all the images. This year we have had great media coverage from the St Albans Times see p78 of the Nov 23 issue: https://issuu.com/stalbanstimes/docs/st_albans_times_issue_43 and pages 3 plus 44-46 of the Nov 30 issue: https://issuu.com/stalbanstimes/docs/st_albans_times_issue_44_1_ Welwyn and Hatfield Times: https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/23969311.orange-world-herts-raise-awareness-gender-based-violence/ Hertfordshire Mercury - "The orange glow of optimism" My Local News - St Albans - www.mynewsmag.co.uk/we-pledge-chief-constable-shares-plan-to-end-violence-against-women-in-st-albans/ Herts Advertiser www.hertsad.co.uk/news/23985752.st-albans-soroptimists-sing-station-womens-refuge St Albans Council issued

St Albans Soroptimists Season’s Greetings

2 years ago in

sahwr

Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2024. Instead of sending Christmas cards we are making a donation to the Soroptimist International Foundation soroptimistinternational.org/si-foundation Soroptimists are feeling festive after delivering a magnificent pile of gifts donated and wrapped by Club Members for the SAHWR Women’s Refuge . Our member Jean Eaton is pictured here displaying the stash before it was all delivered safely to the Refuge. We know the women are thrilled at Christmas to know that we’re thinking about them and we hope it brings them a little bit of Christmas cheer and hope for a happy new year! Members have also donated tea, coffee, toiletries and other goodies. Liz Perry one of the Refuge managers said “thank you for all you do for us”. Our festive singing at St

Festive Singing for the Refuge at St Albans Station

2 years ago in

16 Days of Activism

Shake Rattle and Sing! Soroptimist local women’s group with friends (including some members of local choirs), sang festive songs at St Albans City Station raising a much needed £261 for SAHWR Women’s Refuge. Singers were wearing orange to continue with our campaign to #OrangetheWorldHerts ! https://sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/2023/orange23/ One commuter who stopped to made a donation said “you’re too good to walk through!” – praise indeed. Soroptimist Jane Slatter said “we all had a great time – donations were less than last year, but that’s not really surprising with the financial situation and rail strikes too!” Funding cuts and increased demand mean that Refuges really need money from our fundraising so we were grateful to everyone who donated on the night. If anyone wants to make a donation after the event please email us at sistalbans@hotmail.com This event is timed on the closest Monday to Human Rights Day

St Albans Soroptimists Sponsor Women’s Cricket in 2023

2 years ago in

Cricket

After several years of supporting the development of girls cricket in Hertfordshire, Soroptimist International St Albans and District agreed to sponsor the St Albans Cricket Club Women’s Team shirts in 2023-4. See the photo of the team looking fantastic wearing the shirts. This has provided us with an opportunity to help the development of the women’s game and promote the work of Soroptimists in the local area. The development of leadership skills through sport has been a topic of interest first promoted by a member Audrey Collins OBE, who played cricket for England and taught at a local school. We continue to assist with funding where we can and were happy to help on this occasion at the request of some of the St Albans Cricket Club Women’s Team who valued the support they had received from us in the past. Please click here to

Book Recycling Success at Harpenden Sustainability Market

2 years ago in

Bookstall

Our Soroptimist Charity Bookstall on Sunday 16 Jul was another great success raising more than £200 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge sahwr.org.uk and meant that hundreds of books were recycled to new homes! The Harpenden Sustainability Market is held on Harpenden Common, close to the town centre, on the Third Sunday of March, May, July, Sept, and Nov. Sarah Lichman (pictured in the pink) organised the event with the Club’s Planet Team and we had lots of helpers on the day – pictured above l to r on the “early shift” with Sarah are Helen Byrne, Diana Kingham, Denise Powell and Jane Slatter. Thanks also to Anna Barrett, and Nicky Bloom and her daughter who were on the later shifts. Nicky’s daughter does a brilliant job selling the children’s books. A big thanks to Harpenden Lion, John Powell who set up and dismantled

Health, Education, Development in rural Zambia – a personal journey

2 years ago in

Gill Clegg

Supporting Health, Education, and Development in Rural Zambia On Monday 10 June we were blown away by our guest speaker, one of our Club Members, Gill Clegg. She lived in Zambia for 6 months in 2018/19 and will be returning in October this year. Gill’s professional background is as a nurse working in paediatrics and occupational health. Please scroll down for the link to download and view her presentation. There were 19 of us on Zoom. It is always great to be able to welcome guests from farther afield, including SI Thames Valley, Central and South West London and especially good to see Margaret from our Soroptimist Friendship Link in Chico California. It is wonderful that technology could bring us all together to hear about Gill’s journey. Gill explained a little background on Zambia and it’s history. Katete is in the Eastern province and a

Homelessness – the Crisis on our Doorstep

2 years ago in

#fingerscrossed

On Mon 26 Jun Nicola from Herts Young Homeless and David Lane, Chair of Open Door St Albans joined Soroptimist International St Albans and District on Zoom for an enlightening and moving evening. Nicola talked about Homelessness facing young people across Hertfordshire and David told us about the direct action Open Door is taking to ensure no-one needs to sleep rough in St Albans. Some of the things we learned were happening on our door steps are deeply shocking. Nicola MacKinnon (Fundraiser) from Herts Young Homeless please click here to download and view Nicola’s presentation HYH – NMK basic presentation June 23 It contains a wealth of information so please take a few minutes to read. Nicola started by asking us to think about what the word ‘home’ means to us. She gives presentations at schools and said that children give similar answers to us –

SUSTFEST23 – Repair Fair – happy homes, happy bees and a happy planet!

2 years ago in

#sustfest

Joint Repair Fair Event – happy homes, happy bees and a happy planet – and some fundraising too! On the first afternoon of the Sustainable St Albans Festival 2023 – Sat 10 June, Soroptimists Anna, Jean and Helen took part in a wonderful joint #Susfest23 event at St Albans URC (Greenwood) – a Repair Fair with a Plants for Pollinators stall and a Smalls for All collection. This a first joint event between the URC, our Soroptimist Club and the St Albans Fixers and we are keen to repeat it. As you can see from the cheery pictures the Repair Fair was a great success – with more than 25 people going home happy with their item fixed , a help both for them and for the planet: as you can see from the data below there was also a saving in waste and CO2.

St Albans Soroptimists – International Womens day 2023

2 years ago in

#DIGITALL

As always Soroptimists have been busy around International Women’s Day – a really important day in the calendar for women’s rights campaigners all over the world. The two themes for IWD this year are #EmbraceEquity, and the United Nations theme: #DigitALL : Innovation and technology for gender equality. The photo below is of St Albans Soroptimists at the 13 Mar Club meeting in the #EmbraceEquity pose. St Albans Soroptimists Debbie Tankard, Barbara Saunders and Jane Slatter were delighted to attend the St Albans Girls’ School International Women’s Day Inspiring Women Careers Event for Year 8 and Year 12 Students on Friday 10 March. The photo above of the event was taken by the school. These girls all have a great future – we hope we helped to inspire them! Soroptimists have been participating in this annual event since it’s inception. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Assistant

Home-Start Pancake Race Sarah, Hope, and Jane

St Albans Pancake Race was a Flipping Success for Home-Start Herts

2 years ago in

Home-Start Hertfordshire

St Albans Soroptimists help every year with the Home-Start Herts annual Pancake Race in St Albans. The charity does amazing work supporting vulnerable families who are struggling and in need of help. The annual event receives a lot of publicity and is great for St Albans and the community – see the item in the Herts Advertiser www.hertsad.co.uk/news/23344563.st-albans-pancake-race-raises-4-4k-home-start-herts A couple of weeks ahead of the event Soroptimists Barbara Saunders and Gill Clegg did a great job on a very wet Saturday drumming up support from the local businesses in the Hollywell Hill area. On the day itself 5 Soroptimists were there to help. Sarah Lichman and Jane Slatter sold raffle tickets (seen pictured here withe Hope the Hippo – the Home-Start mascot). Debbie Tankard, Bev Keech and Kat Clark were needed as marshalls helping with managing the event. Please see the messages below that show

How Local Communities are Tackling Climate Change – Action Provoking Evening

2 years ago in

climate change

On Mon 23 Jan we heard from Kate Swindells about how her local St Albans community is tackling climate change and building resilience to its effects. The information she gave us is for sharing so we can multiply the effect everywhere. There were 38 people on the Zoom call which was great – from Soroptimist groups far and wide including Western Canada, Yorkshire, the Midlands and the Chilterns areas. There were lots of guests as individuals and representing groups interested in finding out more about the Sopwell Eco-Stars manageable approach to building resilience to the effects of climate change. Kate is a founder member of the Sopwell Eco-Stars Group which is a sub-group of Sopwell Residents Association. The group supports local people in managing the uncertainties we are all facing because of global warming, ecological breakdown, and related disruptions around food, energy, and the general cost

What a busy start to the new year!

2 years ago in

domestic violence

What a busy start to the new year! On Monday 9 Jan we had a face to face Club meeting where we were able to go through the data from the Club survey. Notes from the meeting and the survey results have been emailed to Club Members and are available in the Members area of this website sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/members. It was great to hear everyone’s ideas and enthusiasm for the future of the Club – what a positive start to 2023! We’d been asked to take a photo of Members involved with the Domestic Abuse Court Observation Project for the final write up – so this photo of four of the observers has now been submitted – l to r are Barbara Saunders, Sarah Lichman, Denise Powell and Jane Slatter. On Sun 15 Jan Members of the Club’s People Team braved the cold to plant trees

Christmas Card SI St Albans and District 2023

St Albans Soroptimists Festive Fun and Season’s Greetings

3 years ago in

Christmas Tree Festival

Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2023. Instead of sending Christmas cards we are making a donation to the Soroptimist International President’s Appeal Opening Doors to a Brighter Future. Soroptimists are feeling festive after delivering a magnificent pile of gifts donated and wrapped by Club Members for the SAHWR Women’s Refuge . Santa’s got a right sackful here! We know the women are thrilled at Christmas to know that we’re thinking about them and we hope it brings them a little bit of Christmas cheer and hope for a happy new year! Members have also donated a stash of tea, coffee, biscuits and toiletries. Liz Perry one of the Refuge managers says “there is no situation in the Refuge that can’t be improved by a sit down with a

Soroptimists Orange The World 25 Nov for 16 Days of Action to End Gender Based Violence

3 years ago in

#16daysof activism

Soroptimist International St Albans and District Oranging the World and saying NO! to violence against women in 2022 #OrangeTheWorldHerts The Global Orange the World Campaign is 16 days of activism to end gender based violence from 25 Nov, the International Day to end Violence Against Women to 10 Dec, Human Rights Day www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite This year Soroptimist International St Albans and District has engaged with even more schools, places of worship and businesses across the area than last year. Organisations and individuals are challenged to do something orange and send photos to the Soroptimists between 25 Nov and 10 Dec as part of the call to action, with the Museum and Gallery lighting up orange for the launch of the campaign. See the photos here from Fri 25 Nov. The outstretched hands in the photos means "Say No! Unite to end violence against women." Mayor

Flushed with Success – St Albans is now a Toilet Twinned City!

3 years ago in

Cottonmill Community and Cycling Hub

On Mon 14 Nov Soroptimist International St Albans and District Members and guests celebrated St Albans becoming a Toilet Twinned City. This special event was the pinnacle of a project that began in 2015 when our Club heard that Soroptimists in Chester had made Chester a Twinned City. Soroptimist Clubs have long used the special days like World Water Day 22 March and World Toilet Day 19 November as a focus for action and fundraising because we understand the importance of sanitation and toilets globally. Today, 3.6 billion people are living with poor quality toilets that ruin their health and pollute their environment. Every day, more than 800 children die from diarrhoea linked to unsafe water, sanitation and poor hygiene. Girls often stop going to school when they reach puberty because of the lack of toilets. The £60 from each certificate bought from Toilet Twinning

St Albans Soroptimist Janet Tansley 35 Years

Club Development, Long Service and Tree Planting!

3 years ago in

Soroptimist

On Monday 10 Oct the Club held a lovely Club development meeting at Greenwood URC. Members met face to face and split into three groups for discussions. A lot has changed at our Club since we last reviewed how the Club works and the Club has had to adapt during the pandemic. Members are all encouraged to complete a survey so that all the feedback can be considered and incorporated into plans for a way forward which we plan to implement in the new year. There are no pics of the group discussions, but we were delighted on the night to be able to present Janet Tansley with her 35 years long service award! Congratulations Janet – we love the T Shirt! Janet is a Member of the Club’s Planet Team – see below for more about the Club’s tree planting. On

The Biodiversity Crisis and Climate Change

3 years ago in

biodiversity crisis

Why the Biodiversity Crisis matters as much as Climate Change and what we can do locally to make a difference. On Mon 26 Sep Soroptimist International St Albans and District hosted a truly inspiring meeting on Zoom about the Biodiversity Crisis and what we can do to improve the situation locally alongside Climate Change. It was great to be able to welcome so many guests from other Soroptimist Clubs, local community groups and Soroptimist friends. Helen Byrne welcomed everyone including our speakers Tim Hill, Conservation Manager at the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/ and Nadia Bishara who has been leading the work of the St Albans group Wilderhood Watch https://wilderhoodwatch.org/ This year Helen is sharing the presidency of the St Albans Soroptimist Club as well as facilitating the great work of the Club’s Planet Team. Club Members have all learnt a great deal about the Climate Crisis and have

Group Zoom SISTA Love Food Hate Waste 23-5-22

Food for thought and takeaways from Love Food, Hate Waste event for #SUSTFEST22

3 years ago in

#sustfest

The St Albans Soroptimists’ “Love Food, Hate Waste?” event for #SUSTFEST22 gave everyone “food for thought” and lots of actions to takeaway! We heard from David Birley (pictured in the screenshots of his slides) Waste Aware Co-ordinator, Herts Waste Aware Partnership and Louise Palmer (pictured below) St Albans’ Recycling and Waste Officer. The meeting was chaired by Helen Byrne, Soroptimist Planet Team facilitator and co-President (see pic). David’s presentation can be downloaded here as a PDF: Food Waste – Waste Aware for SISTA 23 May David introduced his talk: how much waste is there? how much of that is food? how good are we at recycling food waste? should we be looking at reduction and not just recycling? How might we do this? How much waste is there? During the last 10 years there has been a gradual reduction of household waste, until COVID and

Successful Soroptimist Charity Bookstall Sun 15 May Harpenden #SUSTFEST22

3 years ago in

#sustfest

Our Soroptimist Charity Bookstall on Sunday 15 May for #SustFest22 was a great success raising almost £300 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge sahwr.org.uk and meant that hundreds of books were recycled to new homes! The May Harpenden Sustainability Market on Harpenden Common marked the launch of the 2022 Sustainability Festival for St Albans, Harpenden and surrounding villages. Sarah Lichman (pictured above on the right) organised the event with the Club’s Planet Team and we had lots of helpers on the day – pictured above l to r on the “early shift” with Sarah are Jane Slatter, Janet Tansley, Jean Eaton, Denise Powell and Diana Kingham. Thanks also to Louise Marron, Janet Audley-Charles, Madeline Skinner, Nicky Bloom and her daughter who were all on later shifts. A big thanks to our Member Linda Shall and Harpenden Lions David Shall and John Powell who set

Herts QGC Project Presentation Annie Brewster

Queen’s Green Canopy and Sustainability in Herts

3 years ago in

Annie Brewster

On Monday 25 March Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District were delighted to welcome Councillor Annie Brewster, Vice Chair of Hertfordshire County Council and Lead for the Queens Platinum Jubilee. Annie gave an excellent presentation on Zoom about the Queens Green Canopy project in Hertfordshire. We also heard about some great sustainability work from Zac Mather, Herts County Council Programme Manager for Sustainable Herts. Kate Belinis, President of SI Hertford and District was able to tell us about her Club’s Tree Planting. It was wonderful to welcome guests to the Zoom event from the Hertford Soroptimists, Friends of the Earth St Albans and Trees of St Albans. Annie’s presentation is the first 8 slides and Zac’s is from slide 9 – please click here to download and view: Soroptimist Presentation QGC 28.3.22 Helen Byrne, the Club’s Planet Team lead, started the evening by

Optimism after COP26? The world needs increased action to achieve climate justice

3 years ago in

#PlantTrees

The title of our speaker evening on 24 Jan was “What’s next after COP26? How do we achieve climate justice particularly for women in Africa?” We heard from two eminent speakers from the UK academic and the African international development communities: Mike Wilkins Executive Director/Professor of Practice in the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment, Imperial College Business School: Progress at COP26 in Glasgow and the Key Challenges which Remain Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, Director, Programme Innovation and Planning, NEPAD, the new partnership for Africa’s Development: The impact of climate change on women in Africa and the financial aid needed to achieve climate justice. Please scroll down for their more detailed biographies. Mike and Estherine gave us optimism in what COP26 achieved. They identified the challenges ahead and what action is needed by the world to achieve climate justice. Click here to read this excellent meeting report

Soroptimists Orange The World – 16 Days of Action in Herts to End Gender Based Violence

4 years ago in

#16daysof activism

St Albans & District Soroptimists Oranged the world (well Hertfordshire anyway!). Building on our success last year when we ‘Oranged’ the beautiful St Albans Museum, (see photos and read more about it here) this year we set out to ‘Orange’ Hertfordshire as part of the United Nations Orange the World Campaign and the 16 days of activism to end gender based violence from 25 Nov to 16 Dec 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence. The Club is very proud that the photo montage shown here won the Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland photo of the month competition for January 2022! Please watch our video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g6Uhoy7PH8 We wrote to significant buildings, councillors, businesses and senior schools, seeking support…..and we got it!. The Museum were once again delighted to support us and this year laid on a ‘lighting up’ tea in the Courtroom

Soroptimist Christmas Carols St Albans 2021

Happy Soroptimist Christmas – carol singing, plus Refuge gifts

4 years ago in

#16daysof activism

The St Albans Soroptimist women’s group and friends sang carols and festive songs this year at St Albans City Station on Mon 6 Dec for the first time since 2019. It was a great success raising £261 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge A fabulous result considering COVID! We would like to thank everyone who made a donation, including the St Albans City supporters who were on their way to Borehamwood for the match (commiserations to them for the result 🙁). Thanks also to the station staff who joined in the singing and made us feel welcome. We were joined by Jules and Rosie our Soropti-dogs – who we are sure attracted lots of extra attention and donations! Recent funding cuts and increased demand mean that Refuges need additional funding now more than ever before. This event is timed on the closest Monday to Human

Changing the Lives of Women and Girls in Kosovo – an inspiring evening with Elizabeth Gowing!

4 years ago in

Elizabeth Gowing

On Monday 22 Nov the Soroptimist International St Albans and District Club Members and guests, Soroptimists and friends from as far afield as Manchester, Wales and Western Canada! were delighted to welcome Elizabeth Gowing from The Ideas Partnership to talk about her inspiring work in Kosovo supporting girls into education and empowering women in the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian community in Pristina. Elizabeth explained that she was going to share the stories of 7 women living in Kosovo. She shared her journey to Kosovo and the history of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Albania is the neighbouring country 90% of people living in Kosovo are Albanian, 8% from Kosovo and the remaining 2% include the minority Roma Ashkali and Egyptian people and all 7 of the women talked about are from this most impoverished and ostracised community. Elizabeth is an educationalist and talented story teller.

Step Up to COP26 Whilst Stepping Down Carbon Footprints – Next Steps

4 years ago in

carbon literacy project

On Mon 27 Sep Zoom Soroptimist International St Albans and District’s Planet Team organised the online event “Step Up to COP26 Whilst Stepping Down Carbon Footprints”. Please click on the link here to view the excellent presentation delivered by our Member and Carbon Literacy Trainer Linda Shall SISTA Sep 2021 Step Up to COP26 Whilst Stepping Down Carbon Footprints There were 28 people on the Zoom call learning what COP26 is and what role it could and should play in helping women reduce their own, their community and the planet’s carbon emissions. A few notes to help with the background and jargon in the presentation: COP = UN Conference of Parties – annual event; 2015 Paris COP21; 2020 Glasgow COP26 (delayed to 2021 due to COVID with a pre-COP meeting in Italy); COP purpose is for global negotiations towards agreements and

St Albans Soroptimist Celebrate 100 Years with 100 Laps of the Lake

4 years ago in

#100for100

On Saturday 7 Aug Soroptimist International St Albans and District women’s group and supporters set themselves the goal of walking 100 laps of the lake in Verulamium Park to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Soroptimist International #100for100 They actually did 147 laps between them and earned a slice of celebration cake at the end before the rain set in! The photos give you a glimpse of what a great day it was. One of our Members, Louise Marron, had to self-isolate due to COVID so she did laps of her garden with her “Soroptisons” – pictured here with the banner they made for the occasion – well done to Louise and her lovely boys! Louise also sent us these two lovely videos: The Soropimists took a collecting bucket (of course!) to the park and collected £75 for the SAHWR women’s refuge www.sahwr.org.uk which was a bonus because this

Raihaanah Ahmed and Shelley Hayles are Making a Difference in St Albans

4 years ago in

BAME

On Monday 26 Jul our speaker guests were Raihaanah Ahmed, who set up the Sopwell Community Trust which run community initiatives such as Eid in the Park with the aim of breaking down barriers between different communities living in St Albans, and Shelley Hayles. Shelley is a leading voice in Black Lives Matter in St Albans, a registered Social Worker, lobbying for change to the Children Act to provide more provision for Care Leavers. These two inspiring local women infomed us about their local community support and “accidental activism”. Raihaanah Ahmed Raihaanah introduced herself and told us a little of her background. She is a Muslim and Bangladeshi woman. She formed the Sopwell Community Trust. One initiative is Eid in the Park with the aim to make the event accessible to all members of the local community. Raihaanah organised a number of community events pre-Covid.

Herts Girls Cricket Bishop's Stortford Winning Team 2021

St Albans Soroptimists Proud to Award Herts Girls Cricket Trophy

4 years ago in

Bishops Stortford

Fantastic skills and commitment on display in Hertfordshire Girls Cricket Final Sun 18 July 2021 On a sun-drenched Sunday 18 July 2021 on the lovely cricket ground of Berkhamsted Cricket Club, the Girls’ Finals Day saw 3 fascinating tussles take place between the girls’ sides who had risen to the top of the Hertfordshire 2021 season. U11 Berkhamsted vs Harpenden U13 Redbourn vs Harpenden U15 Redbourn vs Bishop’s Stortford Club Member and Regional President, Helen Byrne, attended on behalf of the Club to watch the third of the three games and present the Soroptimist Trophy to the winners in memory of Club Member and ex-England player Audrey Collins. Helen was joined by Members Jean Eaton and Madeline Skinner who enjoyed their visit, learning a little more about the fascinating game of cricket. Bishop’s Stortford U15, so far unsuccessful twice, were playing in their third final

Soroptimists Litter Pick for St Albans Sustainability Festival

4 years ago in

#sustfest

The St Albans Sustainability Festival – #SUSTFEST seemed to be a perfect opportunity for getting people together outdoors to join organised litter picks www.sustfest.org Soroptimist International St Albans and District Club President Barbara Saunders and Club Treasurer Sarah Lichman worked really hard and picked up loads of litter on Redbourn Lane, between Harpenden and Redbourn, on 23 May. The event was organised by Plastic Free Harpenden. During lock down and the gradual reopening of society, we have seen and heard lots of examples of people meeting up in public spaces and leaving their rubbish behind. Rubbish and waste also blows around getting caught in the trees and building up along verges detracting from the beauty of our local environment and sometimes causing injury and possible death to animals. After the litter pick Barbara said ‘The verges are very overgrown at this time of year so

Coffee, Chat and a Virtual Cheque handover – with Liz and Sara from St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge

4 years ago in

refuge

On 7 Apr Liz and Sara, Managers of the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge SAHWR joined us for our monthly coffee morning on Zoom. They were delighted that the Club has been able to send the Refuge £1000 from this year’s fundraising and generous donations. The Club has supported SAHWR for many years – it is a charity which provides specialist domestic abuse services in the St Albans, Hertsmere, Three Rivers, Watford and Dacorum areas. Liz told us that they use the money from our Club specifically to benefit residents. This year with home-schooling of children they were able to use the money we sent last year to buy Wi-Fi Access SIM cards for the iPads that had been provided by BBC Children in Need. The money also funded Easter egg hunts in the Refuges and gifts for the Mums from the children for

Carbon Footprint Presentation SI St Albans

How can Women lead on Reducing Carbon Footprints? Engaging Soroptimist Event

4 years ago in

carbon literacy project

On Mon 22 March we had an engaging evening on Zoom – “How can Women lead on Reducing Carbon Footprints?” The event was led by Soroptimist St Albans Club Member Linda Shall who is an experienced Carbon Literacy Project trainer and a member of the Club’s “Planet Team”. The world has to reduce carbon emissions if we are to prevent irreparable damage to life on our planet: we all have a part to play in that reduction and we need to start now. During the evening we investigated climate change and how we, as women, can lead on carbon footprint reduction. The Aims and Objectives of the event are at the bottom of this piece. Everyone who registered for the event was asked to calculate their Carbon Footprint beforehand. For details of the World Wildlife Fund’s Carbon Footprint Calculator we used and other resources from the evening

Virtual Balloons Raced 500kms from the North Pole in a Week!

4 years ago in

balloon race

This year Soroptimist International St Albans and District teamed up with the Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline and held a virtual balloon race for their Christmas fundraiser! The event raised about £200 to be split between the Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline and the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge One of Soroptimist Barbara’s family balloons “Jon the Sherriff” was the winner from our supporters and the family were thrilled to find he had won an Apple iPad! Soroptimist and our charities’ supporters sponsored 94 balloons and the race included many other participants racing for other worthy causes. The balloon “Jon the Sherriff” travelled 515.54km and came in second overall – it was the only one of ours that came in the top 100 (1st prize was £500, 2nd prize an Apple iPad and there were 10 £10 book tokens for the runners up). Barbara said “the family

Soroptimist St Albans Gifts for Womens Refuge

Christmas Gifts for Womens Refuge

5 years ago in

christmas

Our Soroptimist elves have been busy again buying and wrapping up personal Christmas gifts for the women at the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge. Santa’s got a right sackful here! We know the women are thrilled at Christmas to know that we’re thinking about them and we hope it brings them a little bit of Christmas cheer and hope for a happy new year! Soroptimist Jean Eaton kindly agreed to be the collection point for the gifts this year. Members were also able to drop off donations of tea, coffee etc for the women’s refuge (see the photo). Normally when me meet face to face we are able to bring our donations of tea and coffee to Club meetings, so this was a good solution. Someone from the Refuge then came and collected everything. Liz Perry on the Refuge managers says “there is no situation

Soroptimist Tree Planting National Tree Week

National Tree Week – Soroptimists Planting Trees for Centennial

5 years ago in

#PlantTrees

St Albans Soroptimists Planet Team will be mobilising the Club to “Plant Trees for a Brilliant Future” in 2021 to celebrate a century of work transforming the lives of women and girls across the globe. Even though Soroptimists can’t meet in person yet, National Tree Week is a great time for #PlantTrees planning. Many Soroptimists have already made a positive impact on nature by planting trees – read their stories here https://bit.ly/30cRIM9. We are using the time to plan our tree planting in 2021 in partnership with St Albans Friends of the Earth www.stalbansfoe.org And joining in the Tree Council’s free programme of cultural events for National Tree Week 2020 #TreelyConnected www.treecouncil.org.uk/take-action/seasonal-campaigns/national-tree-week/join-our-free-national-tree-week-arts-culture-events Why not join us? It is time to: Wake Up Take Notice Raise our voices Build Back Better for People and Planet Soroptimists Plant Trees for a Brilliant Future #PlantTrees

Soroptimist St Albans Museum Orange the World for 16 Days of Activism

St Albans Museum Turns Orange for Action Against Gender Based Violence

5 years ago in

#16daysof activism

St Albans Museum and Gallery has turned orange standing with the St Albans Soroptimists for women everywhere 25 Nov marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women the start of #16daysofactivisim #orangetheworld for Zero Tolerance against Gender Based Violence International Day for the #GenerationEquality www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day Thanks to the museum and St Albans City and District Council for making this happen for the first time! It will remain orange until Monday 30 Nov when it will change to Christmas colours. Thanks also to Maya Derrick at the Herts Advertiser for covering the news and raising awareness of the campaign www.hertsad.co.uk/news/museum-orange-for-action-against-gender-based-violence-1-6946806

Screening of Film About Domestic Abuse in Traveller Community for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence

5 years ago in

#16Days

Never Going to Beat You – a powerful new film about Domestic Abuse in the Traveller Community To mark the United Nations 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence , Jude Tisdall presented the brilliant new 1 hour film about domestic abuse in the traveller community called “Never Going to Beat You”. The film was followed by a Q&A on Zoom. This event was organised by Soroptimist International St Albans and District. Jude Tisdall has been a trustee of Giants Theatre Company for many years and is a supporter of the work of The Travellers Movement. She is an educator and arts consultant and is passionate about enabling young people to realise their potential through education in its broadest sense. For more information and resources go to: www.travellermovement.org.uk/advocacy-support/woman-girls/domestic-violence-and-sexual-abuse-project Soroptimists Denise Powell and Ann Beatty welcomed and introduced the event. Jude Tisdall spoke of the six

Herts Area Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre

Club Cuppa and £1000 Donation to Herts Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre

5 years ago in

#SoroptimistsinLockdown

On the afternoon of Mon 2 Nov nine Soroptimist St Albans Members got together on Zoom for a “cuppa”. We were delighted that Cathy Freeman from Herts Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Centre www.hertsrapecrisis.org.uk was able to join us so we could officially “handover” the £1000 we raised for the charity over the last year. Cathy said “That’s wonderful – thankyou so much! I can’t tell you how much it’s appreciated. In Lockdown we have had to buy 6 laptops! The women will be grateful too.” Fundraising for the £1000 included singing Christmas carols at St Albans Station, coffee mornings at Wesley Cafe in Harpenden and a Health Event on Zoom www.sigbi.org/st-albans-and-district/2020/breathe Cathy gave us an update on what’s been happening to the charity during COVID-19. Counselling has been carried out online, the volume of referrals for counselling have been about the same as before the pandemic

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