Report from Immediate Past President
I have had a year to remember sharing with you all celebrations both at Club and Region. The extent of Programme Action work I have seen and heard about has been exciting and has the potential to make big differences around the Region – and further afield – for women and girls. I have enjoyed hospitality in many ways and I just want to thank you all for welcoming me and for supporting the Regional meetings and activities. We have had a successful year in many ways and, certainly, the number of Yorkshire members at Conference was a demonstration of what we can achieve together. Some were organising, some on the Conference Committee, some stewarding and I want to thank you all for doing whatever you could manage to make a successful Conference. It was wonderful to see SI Northallerton and District members stand up at President Margaret’s request so that all present could cheer them on!!
I had challenged you at the beginning of my year of office to work hard at getting new members without losing too many! At the RCM I will announce the club that has achieved the best result and they will have 2 free places – for the new members – at the RCM in March 2015. Thank you for what you have done already but we must always be aware that we must ‘keep them coming in’- we cannot relax and feel that our clubs are OK as they are.
Since the last RCM we had the UNGIFT Box in the centre of Bradford for almost a week – a wet and windy one too! It attracted 841 people to speak with us – we will never know what difference this has made to some lives – but I was thrilled that my vision became reality! I would particularly like to thank Chris Clark, Geraldine Tolan and Lynn Wiggan who worked beyond the call of duty against many odds to get it there! We got good publicity too in the local paper!
I wish President Angela every success for 2014-2015.
Margaret Cook