Members of SI Tamworth took part in Tamworth’s first ever Seniors Fair, organised by MP Christopher Pincher. The fair was a free drop in event for Tamworth residents to talk to various groups and organisations. The stall looked very impressive and it was a pleasure for us all to be able to talk to so many members of the public about what we do.   Attendees were also able to have short video about their group recorded. Please click hear to listen to President Linda:- https://youtu.be/NnhFSMI_-ZY

On a sunny Saturday members and friends of SI Tamworth attended a coffee morning hosted by Soroptimist Chris Arrowsmith, in aid of Sightsavers and in memory of Gwen Hutchinson. A lovely time was had by all with good company and plenty of cakes! The event raised £364 for Sightsavers projects. Members also donate to this organisation by saving our our loose change.

The Forest Restaurant, Tamworth, was the venue for our annual picnic meeting. Members and friends enjoyed good food from locally sourced ingredients and welcomed the chance to catch up with friends in its unusual forestry setting.

Outgoing President Lyn Shiel installed Linda Hayes as this year’s President President Linda has chosen “Looking Forward – tomorrow will be a better day” as her theme for the year. President Linda said “It was nearly 5 years ago that I joined SI Tamworth after reading about a study day that the Club had organised. I was struck by my first meeting at what a formidable group of women you were and you clearly inspired me to want to join you and I have not been disappointed. The impact of Covid 19 has been profound and touched us all in many, many ways and as we move out of the pandemic I hope we can have much to look forward to. I am looking forward to my year as President and know we will have fun so be uplifted and looking forward, tomorrow will be

    On behalf of Tamworth Soroptimists, President Lyn recently presented a cheque for £300 to St Giles Hospice.   A large amount of the donation was raised from the Peter Turfrey Memorial Quiz that Maureen Turfrey organises each Christmas. The money raised from this popular quiz is always donated to The Hospice.

Tamworth Soroptimists joint treasurer Linda Scott proudly shows off all the food we collected for our local food bank. We usually collect food at our club meetings, but as this was not possible during the pandemic the collection was stored at Linda’s house. We have met in zoom meetings during the year where there have been presentations from Marie Ballard of the Hygiene Bank, Steve Hodgetts of Tamworth Community Together and Jane Walker of Purple Community Fund. We usually hold our International evening about this time where donations are presented to the club’s chosen charities but as this event could not be held donations have been sent to SightSavers, The Hygiene Bank, The Samaritans, Water Aid, Tamworth Talking Newspaper, The Soroptimist Benevolent Fund and the International Presidents Appeal “The Road to Equality” President Lyn Shiel’s chosen charity for the year is St Giles Hospice and

This week President Lyn Shiel and Secretary Edna Shafer-Hughes presented a cheque for £200 to Tamworth Self Isolation Support Group. The money was raised by donations from club members.       Steve Hodgetts, joint organiser of the Support Group, spoke about this superb community scheme.  In over 100 days of providing a service to the community and as of 28th June, they have dealt with 2043 in coming calls, 2836 outgoing calls, 270 befriending requests, 955 Emergency Food Parcels, 192 Co-op food parcels.

Soup, mince pies and cheese were part of SI Tamworths annual lunch to celebrate Human Rights Day.   All funds raised were for the SI President’s Appeal ” The Road to Equality”. Please see https://www.soroptimistinternational.org/campaigns/roadtoequality/ for more information.