September 2023
On 2/9/2023 SI Tunbridge Wells were delighted to support our sisters at SI Lewes by joining them at Lewes Societies Fair where they had taken a stall to spread the word amongst their community about Soroptimists and what we do. With our commitment to SDG 13 Climate Action in mind, three of us travelled to Lewes by public transport to support SI Lewes and have a fun learning day out. While finding out about current projects being undertaken by SI Lewes, we also took advantage of the opportunity to network and gather information on other clubs and societies that serve the Lewes community who were present at the fair. #womensupportingwomen
August 2023
Soroptimist Tunbridge Wells took a stall at the Southborough Lions Art & Craft fair on Saturday 26th August. All proceeds from selling hand-crafted items were used to boost funds for distribution to the local charities our club supports. Lovely to see Southborough Town Council Mayor, Cllr Dianne Hill, and Deputy Mayor, Cllr Jason Reeves at the event.
Soroptimist Tunbridge Wells received a request from a local network contact who advised that Nkuringo Education & Community Support were in need of unwanted spectacles. The charity supports schools, a health clinic that treats HIV patients and two Women’s groups in Ghana. SITWD immediately appealed to members to see if they had any old pairs of spectacles lying around that they could donate. A total of thirty-five pairs of unwanted spectacles were found in drawers and old boxes in basements etc. These were handed to a supporter of the charity who had undertaken to deliver them on an imminent visit they were undertaking to Africa.
On a sunny Sunday in August members of SI Tunbridge Wells and District attended Tunbridge Wells Pride to represent and raise awareness for our chosen charity, AKT (www.akt.org.uk). We took along Pride themed items made by club members. AKT supports LGBTQ+ young people aged 16-25 in the UK who are facing or experiencing homelessness or living in a hostile environment. Members of the club had received training from AKT to enable us to speak about their wonderful work.
Didn’t we have a luverly time…
…the day we went to Brighton. Our annual August club outing was arranged with the purpose of ensuring club members had a fun day out – which is exactly what we did. As we could not all go on the same day, we split ourselves into two groups and went on different days. This was just as well as we travelled from Tunbridge Wells to Brighton by way of the local bus service and the bus drivers probably had enough on their hands without so many Soroptimists travelling on the top deck of their bus at one time. On both days club members took advantage of the weather and exhibitions such as those at the Brighton Pavilion, the museum or the Van Gogh experience. Having fully exploited Brighton’s offering of cultural improvement, members enjoyed picnic lunches or fish and chips. After lunch, while some club members enjoyed exploring The Lanes others enjoyed the obligatory ice cream on the pier before wending our way home on the bus, having had a great day out together.
July 2023
The club was thrilled to be able to meet up with the President of Soroptimist Int Gold Coast Inc, Cath Dodd during her recent visit to Tunbridge Wells. It was wonderful to be able to welcome her to a club meeting, as well as enjoy a coffee morning at our local cultural hub, The Amelia Scott, when we were able to spend a fun morning relaxing and discussing international women’s issues.
The club was pleased to have two members represent us at the SI Dublin meeting. While there both had a chance to answer questions on the poster about our Toilet Twinning project, completed in 2022, which we were delighted had been chosen for display at conference. The project combined recycling of aluminium cans with the funding of toilet twins through toilettwinning.org. The centre piece of our fund raising efforts was the toilet made from tin cans pictured at the top left of the poster which we used at various events where we promoted the project and raised funds towards it.
Ann Greenfield and Lorna Blackmore with the
SI Tunbridge Wells Toilet Twinning Poster display
Ann and Lorna were also delighted to be able to offer Friendship Packs to our sisters at the meeting in Dublin. The lovely brooches inside were all handmade by our Club President, Claire.
At our July Club Meeting we were delighted to be treated to an inspiring talk from Jason Lower, youth theatre director and lead of the Creative Engagement team at Trinity Theatre. Jason spoke about a number of community engagement projects run by Trinity across age groups. Jason gave an overview of the wonderful Speech Bubbles drama based intervention which runs in schools for years 1 and 2. Pictured with Jason is club member Kathleen Lynch-Howard, who was Jason’s drama teacher at school along with Badger, the trusty lion who helps run the Speech Bubbles sessions.
SI Tunbridge Wells have for some years supported this amazing local charity Mental Health Resource The charity provides vital mental health services to our local community and this year celebrated 30 years serving our town and surrounding areas. SITWD were delighted to join the celebrations and present a cheque to Charity Manager, Rachel Corry to support their work.
President Elect Cat Menell and Programme Action Officer Angela McPherson
presenting cheque to Rachel Corry at TWMHR
Networking with TWBC Cabinet Member Justine Rutland at TWMHR celebration
SITWD were delighted to gather in the courtyard of The Amelia Scott in Tunbridge Wells to present out latest Town Toilet Twinning certificate to Council Leader Ben Chapelard and TWBC Cabinet Member Justine Rutland – achieved through collecting and recycling cans. Later that day at the Town Forum the certificate was presented to the full meeting by Councillor Rutland.
June 2023
Taking a stall at Southborough Lions Club Gala Day on 25 June gave us the opportunity to sell handcrafted items made and donated by club members to raise money to support club projects. It also provided an opportunity to promote Soroptimism in our local community through networking with the local Lions club as well as interacting with members of the community who attend to shop for art and craft items on the stalls.
Following up on our report published last year ‘A Spotlight on Safety Tunbridge Wells’ which dealt with how safe women and girls feel in and around our town, club members visited the Houses of Parliament in London at the invitation of our local MP, Greg Clark, who recently introduced a private member’s bill in Parliament to deal with the harassment of women in public places. After our tour of the buildings, we happened by chance to meet several Soroptimist sisters from Croydon in the tea rooms. So great to see so many Soroptimists at the heart of our democracy and living up to our goal of helping women to reach their full potential.
Our club has been proud to support the local charity Arts Without Boundaries. This year we have been involved with their poetry project and on Sunday 18 June club members joined AwB to perform at the Tunbridge Wells Poetry Festival. AwB aim to make the arts more accessible and inclusive, not just for their members, but for the whole community. Simon Armitage the Poet Laureate heard some AwB poetry and sent a message to the them: “Congratulations on the poetry project and all the best for the future with it. It’s great to see poetry in action doing what it does well – making connections, letting the imagination float free of the everyday, letting language be a guide to better things. I tip my hat in your direction”
Our Club was asked to present an overview of the can recycling and toilet twinning project at a volunteers’ day event, hosted by Royal Tunbridge Wells in Bloom. Five club members attended and enjoyed meeting other volunteers and groups working in our local community.
On a bright, sunny early June morning SI Tunbridge Wells Club members joined with Kasia, our wonderful Tunbridge Wells Parks Technical Officer to help to fill large planters with summer blooms in the central Five Ways area of the town, by the Millennium Clock. This wonderful volunteer opportunity came to club members via our connections with Britain in Bloom and Royal Tunbridge Wells in Bloom,
May 2023
The guest speaker at our May club meeting was Jess Mookerjee who spoke to us about her childhood and early adulthood, her work in Public Health and her love of writing poetry, explaining how the three interact in her life.
Jessica is a poet of Bengali heritage, being brought up in Mumbles, Wales. She lived most of her adult life in London and who now lives in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. She has worked in Public Health for over 20 years and has a background in psychology and biological anthropology and socio-ecology. Her book Tigress (Nine Arches Press) was shortlisted as best second collection in the Ledbury Munthe Prize in 2021. Her book Notes from a Shipwreck is published by Nine Arches Press in 2022. In January Broken Sleep Books published her long poetic London poem: Desire Lines. Jessica is a board member of the Poetry Society and a Co-Editor of Against the Grain Poetry Press.
aluminium cans. Big thank you to our local Tunbridge Wells community for donating the cans and saving them from #landfill
SI Tunbridge Wells has long supported The Pickering Cancer Drop-In Centre, a local charity that supports families of cancer patients, who have their own well-being needs when it comes to coping with a loved one who is undergoing treatment for a life-changing illness. On Sunday 7 May club members, Ann Greenfield and Caroline Auckland, dressed up to join Polly Pickering, the charity’s founder and champion, for a Coronation Treasure Hunt. A great fun day was had by all!
Henry VIII surrounded by wives and supporters
April 2023
At our AGM the club was pleased to welcome our incoming
President for the year – Claire Archbold
Claire’s chosen charity for the year is AKT Trust and we look forward to
announcing plans to support their work this year.
The club also regularly supports the local Nourish food bank and this April
we gave an Easter donation in the hope it will bring some pleasure to
children in families currently facing difficulties
April proved to be busy this year as on a lovely spring Saturday the club turned out to support the Friends of Woodbury Park Cemetery by taking a stall at their Craft and Plant Fair – after a donation to the Friends from the day’s proceeds the balance of the money raised will be dedicated to supporting other club charities
