Yorkshire Presidents Newsletter July 2022
My apologies for the lateness of the newsletter this month. I wanted to add in some information from the Jonas weekend and have been a bit busy at the start of the month.
June had some real highlights for me and I hope you had some too. The RCM at Askham Grange Prison was really good, and it was made extra special as we had SI President Maureen Maguire with us for the weekend.
On the Friday some of us joined Maureen for an afternoon tea at The Bridge and on the Sunday Susie W and I took her for a tour of York.
Maureen wrote
I will write a formal thank you when I get home but just wanted to say how I appreciate you having me at your regional meeting and the fantastic hospitality I received.
A great regional meeting and I know members went away enthused and energised, congratulations.
I am waiting for Maureen to make the changes to her powerpoint presentation and then we will share it with you all
The two residents who spoke were amazing, they shared a glimpse into their lives and were so honest and it was hard to see that they once lacked confidence. I have added the poem that was written for us to the end of this. I am waiting to see if Debbie is willing to also share her poem that she sent to David Attenborough.
We also brought them lots of material and books so thank you all for your contributions to Askham Grange. This is the email I received from Charlotte (who is the training and skills manager)
Lindsay
I just wanted to say a big thank you from Askham for all the wonderful donations of books, wool, craft materials and clothes. They will all be very useful and are greatly appreciated.
We had a craft evening last night and the craft materials were a great help. Some of the women have started knitting premature baby hats with the wool.
It was great to be with you all on Saturday and meet so many of your members. I’m pleased it all went well for you.
Please pass on our thanks to your members.
I have attached Debbie’s poem for you.
Best wishes
Charlotte
For those who were not present we made a decision to use the excess craft money to buy them a further sewing machine and to offer to Twin a toilet. We also thought it would be good to explore if we could set up a Soroptimist Club in the prison, so watch this space! Jane is working on the work you all did in the afternoon and we will share it with you all, when it is ready.
Then came the weekend in Redmire at the Jonas centre 1-3 July. For those who couldn’t manage it you missed a real treat. 31 residents were joined by at least 10 day guests and we had a weekend full of Fun Friendship and excellent food. Sue is going to put some of your pictures onto the Yorkshire Website so please take a look. And I will do something at the RCM
I wanted to particularly thank Judith Clark who dealt with all the bookings and to all those who helped over the weekend to lay tables, load the dishwasher and make the toast, share their skills and who brought food contributions. We had some left over, so 2 food banks had deliveries on the Monday, plus we will be able to make a donation to Jonas as well. Just getting the last figures sorted. All the attendees sent me some beautiful Sunflowers as a thank you which was really nice.
Here are some of the feedback comments from Face book and by email
How peaceful and quiet. Even weather is good tonight. So glad to make it here.
A fabulous, fun weekend! Thanks so much Lindsay xx
. It was great to get together for some fun with members of SI Yorkshire. What a terrific group of women!
My only regret is that I didn’t book a residential place. I’ll take note for next time.
Huge thanks to everyone involved in organising a wonderful programme of events… something to suit everyone.
A fabulous weekend.
It was.. everything you hope for from a Soroptimist weekend. fun, friendship & of course lots of food, in a stunning setting.
Thank you, we had a lovely time, great company, food and fun
regret not coming now !
I also went out and about, across Yorkshire, To Wakefield for their Jubilee celebrations, to Tapton Hall, twice for Sheffield and Hallamshire Meetings, Richmond and Selby. All evenings were really enjoyable and the hospitality was excellent. Another highlight was to be invited to Keighley to their wonderful day on Pregnant women seeking sanctuary, It was an honour to be involved.
I also had the opportunity to attend the AGM’s of the WI and Townswomen Guilds representing the UKPAC, both were very interesting, with really good speakers. I am sure we will be doing more with The 6-0 organisations in partnership in the future.
At the WI AGM I made contact with a travel firm and they are putting together a coach holiday to take us to Dublin next Summer for the Convention with a bit of sight seeing thrown in. IPP Linda and VP Susie are taking this forward so watch out for further information. Don’t forget to let them know your plans for Belfast as they are organising the hotel list and the Yorkshire party for Jane.
Judith will be also sending out the information about regional roles that are available from November. I would like to thank all the officers for their support and work undertaken for the Region, so far. But We Need You, so please think about if you could do something, or be willing to Job Share. Pam Roebuck has had to stand down as PAG and Jennie is going to look after it until the end of October, Then we will need this role filling again either someone to job share or on their own. We also need a Membership Officer, Benevolent Fund trustee, and a Vice President.
There is support available and you will be joining a great team, so again please think about it. It is also the time that Regional reps change so perhaps you would be interested in taking on this role for your club. We will be sending out the job specs again and they are all on the website.
Don’t forget to get any of your events on the “Whats On in Yorkshire Whats App page” and ask to join it as well. If at least someone from every club can join and agree to circulate the information, we won’t get complaints of “I didn’t know about that !” Sue Butler, liz Lyle and Linda Davis are the admins. There are still a few clubs who do not have someone on it. Please advertise your speaker meetings, informal social etc so we all get good turn outs for our speakers and at your events.
This is extra to the information that you are sending to Judith for regional distribution.
Your Orange the World badges are on their way, ready for the next orange the world day on the 25th July. This month the theme is stalking
Also please try to get to some of the other things that are advertised on the SIGBI briefings, for example the meeting on virtual clubs and the SI AGM were both excellent meeting, really interesting and thought provoking.
I must say Congratulations to Elizabeth Hughes. Who ran the 3K Race for Life in Harrogate on Sunday for Cancer research for part of her 90th birthday celebrations. She raised a magnificent £750. I am sure she could accept some more. My donation is on its way
Last bit now Promise!
Programme Focus Reports
If you want your programme action work to be considered for a SIGBI or a Yorkshire award the programme focus reports need to have been accepted onto the database by the end of July. I know there has been some really good work going on out there, so don’t miss out.
I wish you all a great Summer
Take care in this really hot weather
Regards and in Friendship Lindsay