Our Planet group organised and led our September meeting and we welcomed a guest speaker, Claire Oliver from the Tyne Rivers Trust. Claire gave us an excellent overview of the work done by the Trust. It was fascinating to hear about the projects which enhance natural flood management, such as restoring wiggly rivers (much better at limiting erosion than straight rivers), and creating areas round rivers which absorb water and thus reduce the risk of flooding. We also learnt about the risks of invasive species, the role of volunteers in citizen science projects testing water quality and practical things we can all do at home to help our gardens to increase the amount of rainfall absorbed by the land. Thank you Claire for really informing and educating us.
September 21st is the UN International Day of Peace and we always mark this in our September meeting by taking a few minutes to reflect on how as Soroptimists we can contribute to peace in our own way. Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
