At our May dinner meeting members and guests enjoyed an entertaining journey through the ages of lingerie given by Susan Powell. Susan, a member of SI Tamworth, previously owned A Touch of Class lingerie shop in Lichfield. Her wonderful collection of items included corsets, nightwear and of course bras and knickers. A highlight of the collection was a pure silk wrap with hand stitched silk flowers and a wedding kimono.   Among the guests was Fajli Bibi. Fajli is the CEO of the Global Centre of Excellence in Sustainabilty, a TV presenter and community activist and philanthropist.

Tamworth Soroptimists held a social skittles night on April 19th. It was a huge success and everyone enjoyed the skittles and food. The event raised a contribution of £380 towards our charity fund that will be donated to local charities.     Pictured left are Vice President Gill Holmes, President Vicky and raffle prize winner Margaret Clarke.

At our AGM on 11th April, Tamworth Soroptimists welcomed Alison (Ally) Allerson as President for 2024-2025 and Gill Holmes as President Elect, whilst thanking Vicky Vernon for all her hard work as president for our 75th year. In our photo is: Vicky Vernon (Immediate Past President), President Ally Allerson and Gill Holmes, our President Elect.

During April Madam President was delighted to present Long Service Awards, together with flowers, to Maureen Turfrey (35 years) and Margaret Clarke (25 years).                 Whilst earlier in the day Betty Bates handed over the certificate and flowers to Margaret Walters (35 years) at her home.       All members are Past Presidents. Maureen (1995-1996); Margaret Walters (2004-2005) and Margaret Clarke (2003-2004 and 2017-2018). Congratulations ladies and thank you for those years of wonderful service and friendship.

  This year Soroptimist SIGBI celebrates their 90th birthday. We have set ourselves a challenge to achieve lots of things this year involving the number 90.     Tamworth Soroptimists collected items for our local Foodbank and smashed the number 90 by collecting 150 items.  

At our February Dinner Meeting, Tamworth Soroptimists and guests were delighted to welcome Jennifer McLelland as our speaker. Jenny, currently a West Midlands Police Superintendent and a member of SI Lichfield, enthralled us with the story of her career, spanning almost 30 years. Jenny highlighted the special work she undertook as part of the UK Disaster Victim Identification Team out in Thailand following the 2004 tsunami disaster, leading to special responsibilities in Birmingham during the COVID epidemic, all of which led to her being awarded the Queen’s Police Medal, which we agreed was richly deserved.   We look forward with anticipation to Jenny becoming the Regional President of Midland Chase Region in November 2024.

Thank you to Maureen Turfrey and the International Team for another great get together for our delayed Human Rights Lunch.       We raised over £200 for the Soroptimist International Foundation. This currently has two international projects running. One is for the education of women and girls from or in war-torn countries. The other is for public speaking competitions aimed at empowering girls and enhancing their communication skills. For more information please see:- https://www.soroptimistinternational.org/soroptimist-international-foundation/     The photos show that a good time was had by the Soroptimsts, family and friends.    

SI Tamworth started the new year by celebrating Burns Night. A good time was had by all, whether those energetic enough to dance or those chatting and watching following our meal. The haggis, neeps and tatties went down a treat with those who partook and we all were treated to a whiskey tot. Good food, good company and good fun – what better way for our first actual meeting of the year!

2024 ended with our Christmas party and our decorated Christmas tree in St Editha’s Church Christmas Tree Festival. Our theme was peace because as a quote from Albert Einstein shows:- “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding”