Barbara Jeremiah attended the memorial service of a very interesting Soroptimist, Mrs Betty Sugden MRCVS, at Hook, Hampshire on 22nd February of this year and brought back this story to our club, SI Winchester, where we held a minute’s silence for Betty. Barbara says, ‘We first met  Betty, a former local and national President of SI Zimbabwe when she had just returned from over 40 years as a veterinary surgeon in Africa, arriving back with just a suitcase.  Her son Richard, went to get his mother after she had suffered and been held at knife point during an uprising in Zimbabwe. When she came to lunch at our cottage she still had the bruises around her neck from the assault and terrifying situation she had experienced.’ As a member of the Soroptimists in Zimbabwe over 40 years she was elected Local President in 1963 and

“… it’s more food bags,” says Carol Forse who is leading our contribution to the daily food bags that the Trinity Centre hands out to homeless people they support. The “Cold Bag” is for people with no facilities for cooking and the “Kettle Bag” for those who have access to a kettle.

In a series of updates from schools taking part in the Girls 4 Girls pillowcase dress competition we have photos of pupils receiving their sewing machine prize at Mountbatten School … … and at Eggars School. Henry Beaufort sent links to stories on their website: http://www.beaufort.hants.sch.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=1&storyid=533 http://www.beaufort.hants.sch.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=1&storyid=508 Carol tells us that the Hampshire Chronicle also featured a story about Henry Beaufort prizewinners on p.46 of 12th November edition and on their website – ‘search Henry Beaufort’ says Carol.

SI Winchester members, friends and family enjoyed a Mad Hatters’ Tea Party in Kay and Barbara’s lovely garden last Saturday 1st August. There was croquet after lunch, followed by cake for tea.  Competitions included tea tasting, most unusual teapot and most striking hat.  Winners of the hat competition were joint-chair Pat and her grand-daughter.

At Winchester SI AGM on April 13th President Julie handed over the chain of office to Pat and Jenny who will share the post for the coming year.  Julie was presented with a farewell gift and expressed her wish to continue to participate in all activities. Pat Abbott described the very positive joint planning experience so far and Jenny Stratford outlined the programme which will have the theme of food and will allow for exciting collaborations with students at Winchester University.

Carol has designed these beautiful bags from SI tea towels to sell for fundraising…

In November President Julie accompanied her mother (from SI Nantwich) on a visit to relatives in Australia. In true Soroptimist style it was also an opportunity to meet with fellow Soroptimists and with a few well timed emails beforehand this fell into place. The first stop was Melbourne where President Erica of SI Melba had started this new club as a breakaway from the established SI Melbourne. As happens from time to time there are different views and Erica is a dynamic Soroptimist and used to be a member of SI Lewisham hence the connection with President Julie, as they had shared the same Chilterns Region in the past. Erica clearly had a good group of members and they had recently held an event for schools where the attendance was 300 young girls, to listen to motivational speakers and how to progress in education and

St John’s Winchester in 3 minutes At the supper meeting on 27th October, the new Director of St Johns’, Clive Cook, gave a brief history of the almshouse charity from its foundation in 934.  ‘For our future … we need new trustees, friends and  all sorts of volunteers with different skill sets,’ said Clive, who can be contacted via the website  www.stjohnswinchester.co.uk.  

What a great time we had – all thanks to our wonderful hostesses, Barbara and Kay. Happy moments captured by Carol’s camera.    

Not really known for their craft work, SI Winchester members have been putting long-forgotten skills to good use.   For more information on the Pillowcase Dress project click here.     Urged by Gerry Godwin, our Regional Ambassador for The BIG Project, we took up our needles to make over forty shawls for premature babies supported by the project.  To find out more about our work for BIG click here.     So many clubs responded to Gerry’s call to knit, by the time we finished our shawls they were surplus to requirements in the Gambia. All was not lost because they were welcomed enthusiastically by the Premature Baby Unit in our own local hospital.  

  Founder Member Veronica (Vee) Coleman-Rowthorn died peacefully on International Women’s Day, 8th March 2013. Vee would have been 100 years old the following month.  At our club meeting on 13th January President Liz Batten unveiled a plaque in her memory with the help of Wendy Couchman, our newest member inducted just minutes earlier.  The plaque has been wall mounted in the reception area of the Holiday Inn Winchester, our regular meeting place. Slideshow (includes archive photos of Founder Member Vee) To pause a slide just “mouse-hover” over it  [new_royalslider id=”15″]    

Celebrating together in style at The Golden Lion …   To pause on a slide just “mouse hover” over it. [new_royalslider id=”14″]             As usual we used the occasion to collect money for our International President’s 10th December Appeal* in lieu of sending each other Christmas cards.  This year our donation was boosted by a surprise raffle.  The raffle prizes were kindly donated by Jane Howard in memory of her aunt, Veronica Coleman-Rowthorn, our founder member who died this year, a month short of her 100th birthday.  In total £380 was collected. * 2013-2014 International President’s Appeal: See Solar, Cook Solar Soroptimist International President, Ann Garvie, has chosen “See Solar, Cook Solar” for her International President’s Appeal: “Can you imagine finding time to earn your living if you had to spend hours every day collecting firewood?  Or how you would

Malala Yousafzai and her book need no introduction.*  Deeming it a “must-read” for all young women, the club decided to provide a copy to five local schools.  No doubt the schools have already ordered their own copies but we wanted to demonstrate that our organisation is at one with Malala in the huge importance we attach to the right of every girl to an education.  The book was co-written with Christina Lamb, Foreign Correspondent with The Sunday Times and an interesting and inspiring speaker at our 2009 Federation Conference in Cardiff.       * But just in case … When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out.  Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.  On Tuesday 9 October 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price.  Shot in the head at point blank range