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”.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/23/call-for-womens-march-on-london-protesters-to-write-to-pm-about-trump       Women (and men!) marched around the world for peace, equality and against discrimination Soroptimist Margaret Clark Assistant Programme Director for Advocacy front row with Soroptimist banner and orange jacket – very proud to be a Soroptimist.  Margaret Clark met Sadiq Khan Mayor of London – brilliant!

  Meet the author at our amazing Jam Jar Community Cinema on Jan 31st 2017 – bookings should be made through the Jam Jar website.Doors open at 5.00pm -Event start at 5.30. It’s free but there are only 50 tickets available – SO GET YOURS HERE NOW  http://www.jamjarcinema.com/whatson 20/20 Vision: They Didn’t See It Coming by Sue Miller One life, two questions: What’s fair? What’s right? When you live in a Community with barely enough resources to go round you ask those questions every day, and Lucy Daniel has struggled with them her whole life. It’s 2099 and global disasters have changed everything. It means there’s no room for sentiment, and Jude’s in charge. He says her Mum’s sacrifice was noble, but that’s not how it feels to Lucy. And now she has a chance to tell their story and change everything. But will Jude

Originally designed by the Worldwide Breast Cancer organisation, this image was created to help both men and women detect breast cancer. The campaign, entitled Know Your Lemons, was started by a young designer named Corrine Beaumont, and has been shared over 42,000 times(to date).   WHAT BREAST CANCER CAN LOOK AND FEEL LIKE While a lump is the most common sign of breast cancer, some symptoms can be seen rather than felt. Either way, a mammogram can detect a lump long before it can be felt. Know yourself and let your mammogram do the rest https://www.worldwidebreastcancer.org/

 We will be celebrating our 70th birthday with a VINTAGE AFTERNOON TEA PARTY on Saturday 25th February and of course we LOVE DRESSING UP – so prizes up for grabs.                                                                             Our guest speaker is Jenny B – style and image consultant. Why clients say Jenny B is THE BEST … Speaker .. Trainer .. Personal Consultant “If you haven’t heard of Jenny B – you should have. She is a jewel of a speaker and trainer and makes a room sparkle ….”

  The bra recycling scheme takes your unwanted or unloved bras and through a network of bra banks raises vital funds for pioneering breast cancer research. The same bras also help to support small businesses in Africa. Together with recycling partners, the textile recovery project prevents these bras going into landfill before giving them a new lease of life in developing countries such as Togo, Ghana and Kenya, where bras remain too expensive to produce locally. Successful ventures like this keep many families in developing countries out of poverty whilst providing employment for people at home in the UK. Any bras that are genuinely beyond redemption are dismantled and disposed of properly. For every tonne of bras collected, Against Breast Cancer receives £700 to fund our research. With over 30 million women in the UK you could really help make a difference!

SIGBI President’s December 2016 Blog This is my first message as Federation President so I would like to thank everyone for your support in Malta, and for all the kind congratulation messages that I received in Malta and since whilst at home. Congratulations to Margaret Emsley and her conference committee on a successful conference. And how lovely it was to experience it all on the beautiful island of Malta. Our conferences have had similar themes running through them in recent years – all of them about leading change, taking action and moving forward. I am continuing along the same lines and have chosen my theme Step Up, Lead the Way, to continue the focus on growing our organisation and securing its future. It is important that we continue to move forward and achieve our aim of doubling the membership by 2021. I believe that the