For the second year Soroptimists visited Whitley Bay High School to engage with potentional young Soroptimists – word has been spreading and 30, YES 30, young women expressed an interest in joining last year’s Year 12’s.  – more infomation and new ideas to follow -SO WATCH THIS SPACE.                                                                                               Great debate about ‘Oranging the World’ – we gave out oranges to raise awareness of the 16 days of Activisim against gender-based violence which begins on November 25th.  Why not join us on the DIVA walk organised  by North Tyneside Council.

    The DIVA Walk is part of  North of Tyne Domestic Abuse Awareness Week – from 25 Nov 2018 Did you know? 25% of women are affected by domestic violence during their adult lifetimes 16% of men are affected by domestic violence during their adult lifetimes 58% of abused women miss at least three days of work a month 33% of all domestic violence homicides happened on workplace grounds 56% of abused women arrive late for work at least five times 5% of men in England and Wales experienced DV in the last year alone 7% of women in England and Wales experienced DV in the last year alone £2 Billion is the annually cost of DV and Abuse to businesses    

John Bower gave an interesting introduction to mindfulness, suggesting the works of Jon Kabatt-Zinn as a useful starting point.  As a lay Buddhist John will accompany members to the monastery at Harnham in the spring after the monk’s winter retreat. https://ratanagiri.org.uk/

These young women never cease to impress me: their confidence, their commitment to women’s issues, giving up their time to helping women & children in our region – yes – ALL OF THIS and tackling 4 -5 A’levels, UCAS applications and all of the stresses of 21st c life. A HUGE THANK YOU from our club!  With money left over they will buy PJ’s for the children at Christmas time – what a lovely idea!!    

On the last evening of Conference we celebrate past Regional Presidents and welcome the new!  Well done Linda Johnson on a fantastic year and good luck to Shirley Hallam as the new Regional President of Northern England.                 

I think we should congratulate our club – YES!! Let’s celebrate our success! Presentation of the last 10 bags to make 80.  DCI Claire Wheatley and her team at Northumbria Police could not continue to support the increasing number of victims without our contributions.  Huge thanks again to private donations, Greggs Foundation and more recently Newcastle Building Society for a grant of £3000 allowing us to put together 40 bags.