Tuesday 18th July Speaker Meeting  The Royal National Institute for the Deaf is now known as Action On Hearing Loss, a much more positive title. Karen Squire is the Regional Information Officer SW who came along to our Speaker Meeting  and provided us with some invaluable information about the whole issue of deafness, (one in six of us in the UK has hearing loss) and explained the range of services that are on offer. Some people are open about wearing deaf aids and are even prepared to choose something quite artistic.   We must be aware of those who are more reticent and realise that they can become isolated.   Communication, understanding and patience are required. The  Devon Outreach Centre is based at The White House, Broomhill Way, Torquay. TQ2 7QL Linda Churchward

Saturday 26th  August Normally this is a month when our ladies ‘do their own thing’  but when action is needed we’re there. Members were there at the church, ready to set up a stall to help raise funds for Soroptimist Charities. There was jewellery, scarves, twiddlemuffs and cards on display. This was a new venture for us and although it didn’t swell the coffers too much we were out there in the community being seen and heard.

Since our Inter club Event last year Torquay Soroptimist members have been collecting articles for back packs to donate to Mary’s Meals.   The Back Pack Project is a simple way of helping children get the best out of school.  We are now ready to send off our full packs to children who really need them, Back Packs include items that will encourage and support children in their education.. One child was excited to take one thing, she didn’t realise she was now the owner of the back pack and everything in it! Mary’s Meals works in fourteen countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Every child will receive a daily meal in their place of education. The food encourages regular attendance and a full tummy helps with concentration. Total to date of meals provided – 1,230,171 Mary’s Meals is a wonderful charity and

May 16th 2017 Speaker Meeting on Behalf of HM Coastguard We made everything shipshape at Rosegarth ready for Pip Hall’s arrival. He looked impressive in his uniform and deserved to be piped aboard! Pip is the highly respected Senior Coastal Operation Officer at HM Coastguard. Over the years he has been involved in land, sea and air rescues and experienced most of the incidents you can imagine and some you can’t! He was keen to show how the organisation has developed and improved beyond recognition since he first joined. Now everything is state of the art and is influenced by technology. The coast and the sea are divided into areas and members are deployed exactly where they are needed. Communication is excellent and now involves satellites. These extend the capability to cooperate with international organisations. Their modern helicopters are large and equipped with everything they

Torquay & District SI attend Torbay’s first ever Symposium of Ideas The first ever Torbay Symposium of Ideas was held on Saturday May 6th at Central Church Tor Hill Road, Torquay. It was a free event arranged by Ageing Well Torbay and members went along to promote our group. Ageing Well Torbay is a 6 year project, funded by the Big Lottery, which aims to reconnect communities and reduce social isolation amongst the 50+ generation across Torbay. A lot of people gathered to find out more about Ageing Well Torbay and what it could do for them, but they also gathered to meet new friends, have some fun, and do something different.     Having the stall and a Soroptimist presence at the event was great, with so many people looking to get together, we hope that the eighteen ladies who registered their interest will

‘You are either very curious, very brave or quite mad!’ This we said to our young visitors on Saturday. They’d arrived at Rosegarth House for a party organised for them by a group of ladies, who belong to a global women’s organisation and complete strangers to them. Within minutes we were all getting on really well. You can’t go wrong with fun, friendship and food! Our Soroptimists helped to make the party go with chats, shouts, cheers, laughter, slurps and munching – and then the children joined in! Ten children were in the room and I apologised for presuming we’d have mostly girls. We had three lovely girls and seven charming boys. The games went well but I felt slightly embarrassed  mentioning Cake Decorating next. No problem, it seems boys and girls of all ages love cake decorating – who knew! The age range for

Torquay and District Soroptimist International is a small club (14 Regular Members) but we’re certainly buzzing. We are happy to help sister clubs and have knitted long sleeved chip shop baby vests and bed socks for SI Tiverton.  Donations of red Polo tops and gingham dresses have been given to SI Brixham for a school they support in Northern Kenya.  We have provided pillow cases for SI Plymouth to make into dresses for an overseas school and we are still collecting ourselves for back packs in support of Mary’s Meals.  A box of twiddlemuffs has been sent to a contact in Ireland and we share out twiddlemuffs and blankets to our local memory cafe. In the last two months members volunteered at the Rowcroft Distribution Centre, World Rocks Against Dementia event at Hannahs, Seale Hayne and are continuing to help out on a Saturday afternoon

Another happy visit. It was a slow start with the teas and coffees, then suddenly everyone arrived at once. There was a testing quiz, a word game, then down to the serious artistic business. Everyone was given a new flowerpot to decorate with help at hand from the volunteers. Water, paints and brushes were shared out and then it was time to concentrate. The lovely pots were finally collected and put in a safe place to dry. In a couple of weeks they will be filled with compost and bulbs and the artists will look forward to a floral delight. Linda Churchward

Brian Smith came to Rosegarth to give a talk on Storybook Dads. It was an excellent talk and a complete revelation. Brian brought things to life with interactive clips and we were able to fully appreciate the Dads and their situation. They are prisoners. The Charity began at HMP Dartmoor and later moved to Channings Wood in Denbury. Prisoners are encouraged to keep a special link going with their family by using an editing and disc production service and this is on offer to 90 UK prisons. This idea has now spread to prisons worldwide. Dads are helped to record bedtime stories with the addition of music, sound effects and chat. The discs are sent to their children who can listen to them over and over. Some prisoners have been trained up and are employed to work on various projects. The scheme has a powerful