Members and guests enjoyed our annual Christmas party. Quiz master Malcolm tested our knowledge of all things Christmas. The every popular hamper raffle raises £220.00 for our charities.
Throughout the year Tamworth Soroptimists support the girls at No.8, a local charity that provides supportive accommodation for young Moms and their babies and pregnant young Moms to be, in an environment where they can feel safe and secure. At Xmas the girls are given pamper hampers and we were asked if we could provide socks and gloves to go in the hampers. As usual the ladies generously supported this project.
SI Tamworth had a stall at the Tamworth Victorian Market. Some members dressed for the occasion. Items on sale were donated by members but a great big thank you went to the mother of one of the members for knitting all the wonderful toys. The stall raised £512 for our charities.
Members of SI Tamworth had a stall at Lea Marston to raise awareness of breast cancer. Not only did we promote the work of Breast Care Awareness our tombola raised £207 for this charity.
Members of SI Tamworth marked the start of our 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, by wearing something orange to our November dinner meeting.
Early this month Tamworth Hygiene Bank put out an urgent appeal for items as their stocks had become desperately low. Members of SI Tamworth responded by donating over 100 items to the charity. These were handed over to Marie Ballard, who runs the Hygiene Bank at our November dinner meeting.
Marilyn, from Dogs for Good (www.dogsforgood.org ) gave an interesting and informative talk at our November Dinner meeting. This charity empowers people with all disabilities to live more independent lives by providing expertly trained dogs. The dogs they train have a lot of different skills, from fetching the post, opening doors, emptying washing machines to helping with shopping. The star of the show was Wilkie who was an assistance dog for Helen. Helen spoke about how Wilkie, the star of the night, has given her so much freedom.
President Linda lay a wreath of poppies on behalf of SI Tamworth ably supported by Gill Holmes – our newest member and long serving Betty Bates – who has been a member since 1985 was Club President 1991-92.
At our November Business meeting, members made vows for COP26. These were written on paper leaves and hung onto a tree. The vows are listed below. SI Tamworth COP26 vows Use a reusable fruit and veg bag when shopping in the supermarket. One vegetarian meal a week. Do one load of washing less per week. Use no plastic bags. Don’t use non degradable wipes. Only boil just what I need for a cup of tea, not a full kettle. Buy a reusable coffee mug for my takeaway coffees. 2 veggie days a week. Use a face flannel, not wipes. Ban the dryer, use fresh air. Plant trees. Lobby our MP on relevant environmental issues. Use cotton makeup wipes. Buy more seasonal and local produce. Eat less meat. Walk to the pub more often, not use the car and drink keg beer not cans or
Members welcomed Ruth Lowe to our first dinner meeting of the year. Ruth spoke about the early life of Mary Quant, her designs and how they influenced the fashion industry. A passionate speaker, Ruth has an extensive collection of original Mary Quant clothes and memorabilia. Several of her items were loaned to the V&A for their recent Mary Quant exhibition. Members enjoyed the trip down memory lane and many remembered wearing some of the items.
