Penny Etherington gave a talk on how we – as SIGBI and our own club – can embrace longevity, encourage new members and the need to look to the future both on a club level and across SIGBI. She talked about exploring possible changes in club membership, attitudes to change within clubs and challenged us to see if there are ways that can we embrace new membership. 3 potential new members attended the meeting to observe. President Libby talked about how she completed the Bodmin Lions walk recently followed by a very successful plant sale which raised £669.  The Tregrehan Garden visit was attended by 22 visitors, with 30 going back to the house for supper. We have been invited to attend and support a play at the Keay Theatre on Weds 22nd, at 2pm, by the Lions who are supporting St Austell College with

About 50 Soroptimist, partners and friends attended President Libby’s ‘New President’s Evening’ at the restaurant at the Brittania Inn, Par. As President Libby’s nominated charity this year is the Air Ambulance, we were fortunate to have 6 Paramedics from the Air Ambulance (from the Westcountry Ambulance service) joining the evening. Mark Fuszel, who has been doing the job for 6 years, gave an informative half hour presentation saying how the helicopters and 2 pilots are leased from a company called Bond and talked about the new Helibase as well as the work that they do. There is a female paramedic in Exeter and some women flying with the Search and Rescue. A successful evening was had by all and marked a fantastic start to President Libby’s year ahead. The Tombola made £204.

President Kay chaired her final meeting at this year’s AGM which was an evening of celebration, reflection and looking for the future. She talked through the incredible work that had been achieved in the last 12 months by the club and also acknowledged and praised the many other projects that individual members were involved with outside the club. President Kay presented Carol Jennings with a cheque for £1375, on behalf of Precious Lives, raised at the Fashion Show. (image). Cornwall Channel.co.uk have a video of the Fashion Show highlights. Brenda Horton was presented with the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in a New Role’ for all her work with the PR committee. Wendy Plaice & Fiona Davie received a bouquet of spring tulips each from President Kay for all their work as Web Mistress/PR (Wendy) and the last 4 years as Membership Officer (Fiona). After the Election of