Another event was held to continue ur support for the Sam Beare Hospice in Weybridge Miraculously the weather cleared in time and for it to be a lovely sunny afternoon for tea in the garden.  As well as Elmbridge members, former members, Woking club members and many friends attended and enjoyed a sumptuous array of delicious homemade cakes – rather too many for some of our waistlines! The event – together with some other monies including some left over from the summer lunch enabled us to send the wonderful sum of £265 to Sam Beare Hospice.

An evening in the open air, relaxing to music, chatting and sipping Pimm’s through a straw – it must be summer! But when the Soroptimists of Woking and Elmbridge got together on  the 23 June for an evening of Pimm’s and Poetry by the Water, the straws they were interested in were rather different to the ones you use to idly stir your Pimm’s as you laze in the deckchair.  They raised well over £250 for LifeStraws®, a point-of-use filtering system aimed at reducing the impact of water-bourne diseases affecting the 800 million people in the world who still have no access to safe drinking water.

Cocktail Straws A fun evening was held on a grey January day to raise money for Lifestraws. These wonderful individual water filters can last for up to a year and are real life savers in disasters such as the Pakistan floods. Those attending bought a straw and then enjoyed an array of cocktails and good company. The evening rasied over £300

S.I Elmbridge and S.I Woking came together on a wintery evening in November as part of their successful joint PAC program to hear another interesting and topical subject of ‘The Veil’.  The attentive audience of over thirty members and guests from both clubs listened to three professional working Muslim women. They began their talk with a recitation from the Holy Quran – a verse that showed that Islam gives equality to both men and women. Dr. Sarah Waseem has been a Clinical Psychologist for over 20 years and works for the NHS.  Within the Muslim Community, she is Head of Ladies Documentaries for the 24 hour channel, MTA International (Sky 787) and has also been involved with a community publication ‘Review of Religions’ for 10 years.  Dr Waseem spoke warmly of how her faith and dress supports her work in one of the poorest areas

Our guest speaker at the May Supper Meeting was WPC Kath Blythe.  She gave us a very informative talk on her work with the Surrey Police force. Kath outlined how different things were in 1984 when she first joined the force – it was definitely a man’s world with WPCs confined to restrictive duties in the police station and nothing in the way of flexi-time or career breaks to accommodate the needs of a working mother.  When her children were born Kath had to leave the police force because the combination of family and career became unworkable.  Later Kath was invited to rejoin the force as part of the specialist team handling domestic violence incidents and then she went on to work in the Child Protection unit.  Today she operates out of Addlestone and is a Risk Management Officer working with sex offenders in the

75 for 75 in Aid of Wateraid Charity bridge Afternoon Sixteen tables of avid bridge players settled down to an afternoon of competition and fun.  A wonderful tea of cakes and sandwiches was provided and enthusiastically consumed!  Around £580 was raised between both Elmbridge and Woking clubs. A big thank you to players and contributors alike. Coffee Morning   Members met at Marion Strehlow’s for coffee and cake in support of the 75 fo75 campaign for Water Aid.  As one would expect when Soroptimists get together there was much chat and the members enjoyed the elegant surroundings and the Bring and Buy ably organised by Eve.  Over £200 was raised from guests and contributors not able to attend. Between the two clubs (Elmbridge and Woking) around £780 was raised for the 75 for 75 campaign – well in excess of the £75 per club we

Woking and Elmbridge held another successful joint event, the purpose of which was to highlight the distressing issue of Elder Abuse. Daniel Blake, the Policy Development Manager from Action on Elder Abuse (AEA), spoke passionately on the extent of various types of abuse – physical, psychological, financial, sexual and neglect, that vulnerable older people can be subjected to.  In 1993, AEA established a definition of elder abuse which has been adopted by the World Health Organisation.  This is: 75 for 75 Campaign for Water Aid ‘A single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.’ Daniel also pointed out that Government studies estimate that abuse of older people is far in excess of the estimated abuse of children.  He believed that if the incidence of

Once again an intrepid group of gardeners attacked parts of Burhill playing field in early September.  The pots around the statue were re-planted, and the area was covered with bark and ivy (which we hope will take!) and still looks well cared for.  For those who know the site, the bed around the tree is yet again covered in weeds.  This time we decided to spray with weed-killer and wait until we can pull up the dead weeds easily.  We will then re-soil, re-compost and re-plant.  We were encouraged during the morning with Danish pastries (many thanks Dorothy and Denis!) and amused (again many thanks Dorothy) by the burglar alarm going off.  The only person who took any notice was a young police woman who was in the area attending another call, who insisted on taking Dorothy’s details (don’t ask!!).   The new deputy head did

Donations for the Hillcrest Project Margaret Turnbull has asked me to extend her thanks to all members who donated children’s clothing and books for Hillcrest following her appeal. From the mountain of clothing and books stacked in her church pending shipment it was obvious that the people in Hillcrest and various schools locally will benefit tremendously from your kindness. Margaret tells me that they have “absolutely nothing” at Hillcrest so the influx of clothes and shoes will be of tremendous value and, I imagine, the source of great joy and celebration when the container is unloaded and the clothing becomes available at the end of the October.   To find out more about Hillcrest you can check Margaret’s web site at www.hillcrestaids.org.uk   and see for yourselves how much difference is being made through her efforts.

  Elmbridge soroptimists have been supporting two girls orphaned on the train that was detialed in Sri Lanka by the Tsumanmi. We continue to raise money to help with their eduction. A Coffee Morning was held on Saturday 25th July.  We raised the fantastic sum of £400 which will do so much to help Dilini now 18 years old and Budhini now aged 12 years with their education. We had wonderful weather – the sun shone and we were able to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and cake in the garden of York House. Eve, Hannah and Doris managed the Bring and Buy splendidly and Margaret B and Danny were amazing making so many cups of coffee as well as washing up.  It was a most successful and rewarding morning.