Welcome to our new member – Liz.  Smiles all around as Liz is welcomed by President Judy, OBE.       O£300 RAISED FOR MERU GARDEN PROJECT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MEET ANY OF THE 17 UN SUSTAINABLE GOALS?  We have supported Vera for many years through our ‘Pennies for Nepal’ fundraising and our monetary help goes straight to Nepal, helping rebuild the school after the earthquake in 2015.         Immediate Past President Anne presented £1000 to NEPACS (North East Prison After Care Service).  This donation will be used to support ‘family days’ ensuring children visiting relatives in prison have positive memories of family life. With the help of a £1800 grant from Greggs and various generous donations  we have put together 36 ‘NEW START BAGS’. These backs provide everything a young girl or woman would need for the first week after they

SI Invite Please see below an invite to our annual Open Evening        

Every year we have a fund raising event for the President’s Charity at our community cinema ‘The Jam Jar’.  This year was our third year and over 40 members a enjoyed a sing-a-long to ‘The King and I’ and wouldn’t Deborah Kerr make a great Soroptimist?!  Our treasurer is still totting up how much was raised but I can reveal that President Anne’s total this year for her charity NEPACS (North East Prison After Care Service) will meet the £1000 target – THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED THIS WORTHY CAUSE. Why not support your community cinema too!   http://www.jamjarcinema.com/

  We welcome Gill Coulson into our club; she comes with a fantastic personal recommendation and as a member of our COMMUNICATION group has already inspired us with awesome ideas.  Looking forward so much to your friendship.

Members attended the annual Tyneside Geographical Society Lecture ‘Citizenship and Equality’  where Vera Baird QC, Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria and Kaneez Shaid, Chair of Trustees, Citizens UK  were programmed to have a dialogue. This conversation between two prominent figures in community politics was aiming to provide insights into community alliances aimed at creating a sense of fairness and a platform for empowering marginalised voices.  Unfortunately Kaneez Shaid  was let down by public transport, however fortunately her replacement by local, Sarah Bryson, of Citizen’s UK, Tyne & Wear, at the last minute was extremely well received and enjoyable. The speakers explored identities of citizenship and equality that are forged in the public spaces of civil society – locally, nationally and in a broader ethic of care for human rights.     Dame Vera Baird gave a short description of her interesting and varied career journey

Thank you to the staff at Greggs, Whitley Bay, for the coffee and your support! Just a reminder and another thank-you for the grant of £1800 from The Greggs Foundation to help our club to continue helping traffiked women in the North East by supplying New Start Bags. A SUCCESSFUL DAY PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY; SO MANY WOMEN & MEN STOPPED TO TAKE TIME and LISTEN and TO GIVE THEIR SUPPORT.

  We received greetings from Ann Garvie, Dear Pat Delighted that you are home and are not fretting about the celebration cake which I am in no doubt is perfect and beautiful. I write to ask you to convey to Madame President and all Club members my sincere congratulations on achieving 70 years of service to your local, national and international communities through your membership of Soroptimist International, all members past and present are to be applauded. I wish you all a very happy celebration tea party, enjoy. Warm wishes AnnAnn Garvie Immediate Past President Soroptimist International 2913-2015

Emma Watson has written a powerful letter urging the government to ratify the Istanbul Convention – a crucial piece of legislation that, if implemented, would be a milestone step in ending violence towards women. Governments that agree to the Convention essentially pledge to protect women from violence through various means: training professionals in close contact with survivors; regularly running awareness-building campaigns; addressing the issue in schools; setting up teaching programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence and sex offenders; involving the media in eradicating gender stereotypes. Watson has called for MPs to vote for the execution of the legislation this Friday, 24 February. IT’S EASY – TAKES ONLY THE TIME TO MAKE A CUP OF COFFEE!!  COPY AND PASTE and email now! David Cameron signed a commitment to executing the legislation in January 2014, saying he hoped to ratify the Convention “in the next few months”.