I’M FROM ATHENS! Torquay & District Soroptimist International are pleased to report they helped raise funds for children with visual impairment.  A cheque for £55.00 was sent to the National Blind Children’s Society after selling a ‘Baby Adoptables’ card. Members were encouraged to pick a place name for £1.00.  The winner who guessed where the baby Panda came from was President Veronica Prowse who was pleased to hear that her choice of Athens was the winner, she gets to take the Panda home and we hope that he enjoys life in Paignton. The money donated will will help the National Blind Children’s Society provide funding for recreational activities and equipment, computers and IT equipment, activity holidays and respite care and large print books for schools.

Martin Pallett said ‘he was incredibly grateful’ when presented with a cheque for £1000 at the Torquay & District Soroptimist International AGM .  President Veronica Prowse was thrilled to be able to present  this cheque to Martin Pallett who is Director of Services for the Charity Devon in Sight. Devon in Sight is a long running charity supporting people in Devon experiencing sight loss, previously known as the Devon County Association for the Blind.  The Devon in Sight is a Resource Centre and Charity based at Station House, Topsham. Ten months ago Martin Pallett and Cherrie Crook who is a Volunteer Co-ordinator attended a Speaker Meeting at Rosegarth the home of the Torquay & District Soroptimist International.  Martin gave a brief demonstration of some of the kitchen, household and everyday equipment available to make life easier for visual impaired people and enable them lead independent

Programme Action Convenor Maureen Hunnable recently hosted a Raclette Party and invited club members of the Torquay & District SI to attend. Raclette is a type of cheese from Switzerland that is prepared on a special raclette grill.  The grill heats numerous small pans in which members were able to melt the raclette with steak, chicken, bacon  and other toppings of their choice.  Members then relaxed while their individual raclette pans cooked. An easy, enjoyable and successful evening raised £100.00 which will be donated to the Safe Childbirth in the Gambia campaign.

Target Ovarian Cancer Fundraising Manager Amy Cartlidge who is based in London arrived in Torquay where she gave a talk to members and guests during March – the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The new campaign ‘Target One Million Women’ is aiming to save lives by making one million women aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, and to raise vital funds to improve the lives of women diagnosed with the disease.  Members were concerned to hear that awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer is still woefully low 3% of women asked could only name one symptom.  Early diagnosis is key to survival, but unless women know to be concerned about their symptoms, and unless GPs know to consider ovarian cancer, lives will continue to be lost. Amy asked people to support the campaign by doing everything they can to raise awareness of the symptoms

Torquay & District Soroptimist’s held their annual Bangers & Mash evening recently and raised £130.00 which was donated to Sandy Jay who is going to Ghana at the end of May working for the charity Projects Abroad Pro (Professionals). Sandy was presented with the cheque at the monthly ‘Speaker meeting’, when she talked to members about her venture. Sandy aims to  establish a counselling and support programme for 47 young people (aged between 6 – 13years old) who have been used for sex and job trafficking.  Her remit is to develop a support and training package for volunteers who work with the young people so that in the future they will be able to follow the guidelines and structures she has put in place. These children have been ‘rescued’ from the work and are in a rehabilitation centre and have been in the centre for

January 3rd          Executive/Business Meeting 10th       Rosegarth House Committee Meeting 17th       New Year Supper – Whitfields, Livermead 24th       Sandy Jay Speaker- Projects Abroad Pro, visit to Ghana My Job Talk – Gill Wood   February 7th        Executive/Business Meeting 11th       Regional Council Meeting 14th       Rosegarth House Committee Meeting 21st       Fair Trade Speaker – Helen Barrett     March 6th         Executive/Business meeting 13th       Rosegarth AGM 20th       Target Ovarian Cancer Speaker –  Amy Cartlidge 27th       President’s Evening   April 3rd         Executive/Business Meeting 10th       Rosegarth House Committee Meeting 17th       Annual General Meeting 24th          Executive Meeting     May 1st           Business Meeting 8th         Rosegarth House Committee 12th       Regional Council Meeting 15th       Met Office Speaker – Mary Sherwood 22nd 29th   June 5th         Executive Business Meeting 12th       Rosegarth  House Committee Meeting 19th      

Members from the Torquay & District SI had an early start recently as they were attending the annual Cockington Fayre on Wednesday 3rd August 2011. The fayre held in the grounds of Cockington Court was the venue for many stalls helping to raise funds for Cockington Church, local and national charities. President Veronica Prowse, Treasurer Myra Brown and Committee member Cheryl Rider were hoping to raise vital funds for Devon in Sight. Secretary Jasmine Dawkins and Membership Lesley Proctor joined the fund raising team later in the day to help with the very busy book and bric-a-brac stall. It was a brilliant day, not a cloud in sight, the fayre with all it’s stalls, live music from High Society, church bells ringing, fresh food available from the BBQ and Thai noodles drew in thousands of people. The great thing about community events is that they

Saturday 16th July saw the Torquay & District Soroptimist’s hold their annual Summer Fete at Rosegarth, Torquay. After this successful fund raising event members met with Councillor Derek Mills and his wife at the ‘Old Maid’s Perch’ Torquay. Councillor Mills unveiled a plaque as a permanent reminder to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of a Soroptimist Club in Torquay and District. During this time the club have given service to the community and worked hard to collect and then donate money to various charities both local and abroad. The club support the wider aims of Soroptimist International and their commitment to improve the lives of many, especially women and girls.

Members recently enjoyed a ‘hands on’ evening when local ‘scrapper’ Shelley French came along to our recent speaker meeting.  Shelley gave a practical demonstration & talk to members on the increasingly popular hobby – Scrapbooking. Are your photos gathering dust in a cupboard? Or worse still, are they stuck in a standard photo album which is gradually deteriorating your precious memories? You might prefer to see them in a scrapbook album illustrated with co-ordinating embellishments and detailed journaling knowing that they will preserved for years to come. Many of us will remember making scrapbooks as children –saving ticket stubs, brochures from holiday destinations, notes and newspaper clippings, special birthday cards or postcards and pasting them randomly into a sugar-paper album. That was scrapbooking THEN.  Scrapbooking NOW retains some of those elements, such as preserving precious memories, but focuses on the important elements of safety and