Regional Newsletter December 2014

Page 1 of 5

Well where has the year gone? Jacque has had a successful and enjoyable year and now we have our new Regional President Sheila. I hope you enjoyed conference in Harrogate and I look forward to the International Convention in Turkey in July – I hope several people will be able to attend from the region. I am actually going away for Christmas if you joined us for Eastbourne’s anniversary celebrations you may

In the last newsletter I included a report

on the loud and proud writing

competition so here Jacque gives a

summary of her last six months as

Regional President. This report was

written well in advance and I know

Jacque would want me to include it here.

I cannot believe that when the message

came through that she was unable to

attend conference we had no idea of the

sad news of her death that was to follow.

Obviously our thoughts and prayers go to

members of her family in their sad loss.

Jacque was a wonderful person and it

was only a few weeks ago when she

came to talk to the Eastbourne club

about her writing. She will be greatly

missed by everyone.

On 20 May she spoke at a club meeting

for SI Maidstone . She shared her

memories of the Club where her mother

had been a member in the late sixties. The

meeting focused on membership and

President Jacque asked the club members

present to remember what had caused

them to join Soroptimist International and

to think about their reasons for remaining

as members. Club President Carol was

going to follow this up at a later meeting.

On 5 June President Jacque visited a

fundraising fashion show hosted ( and

modelled) by members of SI Medway

Towns. This was a most enjoyable social

event.

Our Regional Meeting was held at the

Hilton hotel in Maidstone on 14 June. It

was a day in which we, as a Region,

celebrated SIGBI’s 80th birthday, listened

to inspiring talks about The Vipingo Village

Trust and Water Aid, welcomed our SIGBI

President Elect, Jenny Vince – who gave

us an insight into the future development

of Soroptimist International and also

awarded the prizes to the winners of our

Regional writing competition. We finished

the day with a celebration of cakes and a ‘

Factfile’ ‘How well do we know our SIGBI?

On 21 June, President Jacque joined

SIGBI President Margaret Oldroyd to

celebrate SI Ashford’s 50th Anniversary,

held at Smarden Village hall. It was a most

enjoyable evening.

On 25 June President Jacque presented a

workshop on ‘Speaking Matters’ to

members of SI Lewes. They were also

joined by some members of SI East

Grinstead, This was a practical session

and everyone really joined in. Together we

looked at using our voices effectively and

speaking and reading with interest.

Examples of stories were selected and

shared from SI Canterbury’s collection of

stories by Soroptimists worldwide .‘Tellers

of Tales’ – raising money for the B I G

Project.

Unfortunately, due to the change of date

for her own Club’s ‘ Bagathon’ because of

bad weather , the new date clashed with

President Jacque’s summer holiday. On

her return, however, she was able to

support SI East Grinstead, for part of

their ‘Bagathon’, held at Capel Village

Fete – near Dorking – on 16 August.

There was an excellent atmosphere on a

lovely sunny afternoon and we also

enjoyed excellent strawberries. The Club

made in excess of £700 for the BIG

Project.

On 9 September President Jacque visited

SI Ashford and spoke at their monthly

meeting. She focused on ‘ International

Literacy Day’ ( 8 September) and

highlighted the importance of literacy - a

human right for all. The next day, she

joined SI Beckenham for a cream tea at

Arthur’s restaurant, Coolings Garden

Centre in Knockholt to celebrate the 100th

birthday of Nonn Trangmar – such a

wonderful, vibrant woman !

On 11 October President Jacque

attended a concert organised by SI

Ashford to raise money for Motor

Neurone Disease. It consisted of the ‘Love

to Sing ‘community choir and the David

Green guitar players. The guitar quartet

and the young violin soloist will long be

remembered by all who heard them !

On 13 October she gave a talk about the

importance of Literacy , ‘ Travels with my

pen’ and shared some of her own writing

with members of SI Eastbourne . It was a

lively and very enjoyable evening . She

was most impressed to discover that the

club has it’s own writing group ! Diversions

on the way home over the Romney Marsh

also proved to be eventful for her and for

fellow member of SI Canterbury, Sue Pritt,

who had accompanied her !

On the following day, 14 October

President Jacque attended a ‘Call My

Bluff’ quiz evening organised by SI

Gravesend and District. It was a most

entertaining event !

It has been a wonderful year and has

really gone so quickly ! The theme of

‘Communication’ has been celebrated

throughout and the work for the B I G

Project has been tireless ! Clubs have

been warm and welcoming and it has

been a great privilege to share so many

activities with them. Our Region meetings

have been lively and often very thought-

provoking with some inspirational and

motivational speakers – from Nicholas

Owen to Priscilla Morris and providing the

opportunity to listen to essays read by

winners of our writing competition!

President Jacque would like to thank her

Executive Committee for all their time and

valued support throughout the year,

Andrew Hudson for maintaining our web

site and Denise Staplehurst for writing the

newsletter. She would also particularly like

to thank Susie Forbes for her boundless

enthusiasm in co-ordinating the B I G

Project with such success and her friend

and fellow Club member, Sue Pritt, for

being a chauffeur to several Club

meetings ! It was gratefully appreciated !

Notes from Past

President Jacque

remember Janet from our link club in Townsville , Australia I am going to stay with her family for 2 weeks in the lovely sunshine. Denise

Regional Newsletter December 2014

Page 2 of 5

It was wonderful to see President Sheila

receive the Presidential Region chain

from Federation President Jenny in

Harrogate she has now gone away to

India from 16th

November for 2 weeks

and so has only given me a few lines to

include here.

On my trip I will be seeing all the tourist

sights Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Taj

Mahal and Shimla. So I wll put some

pictures in the next newsletter. I really

enjoyed the conference and I thought

the speakers were excellent and even

funny at times! Thanks to everyone for

the good luck cards and lovely flowers. I

am really looking forward to my year as

Regional President and I hope you will all

enjoy the meetings and speakers.

The Harrogate conference was great and

there are many new developments

coming as a result. One of the most

important was discussed at the FMB

meeting in Harrogate, where the Board

agreed to commence work on a SIGBI

Membership Growth Plan which includes

- a Club Membership Growth Toolkit

- a marketing initiative for the

organisation as a whole

- the introduction of other types of

membership

This will be delivered with the support of

a business consultant and a government

grant. This is a unique opportunity for

SIGBI to utilise government money and

receive professional support to achieve

real membership growth.

To provide you with more detail, and

ensure that you all receive the same

message I will report on it at Region

6.12.14 also there will be an article that

will appear in the December 2014

Soroptimist news.

The time critical element of this news is

the SIGBI Club Membership Growth

Plan. We will shortly be looking for 30

clubs to take part in a pilot of the Club

membership growth toolkit. Clubs will

need to self select for the exciting

opportunity and information and how

they go about this will be in the next

mailing. At the moment, it will only be

open to Clubs in England, but SIGBI

hopes that this will extend to other areas

of the UK.

Following completion and evaluation of

the pilot, it will be replicated across the

whole Club structure regardless of

location and any Club limitations. This

may involve SIGBI in developing its own

materials.

If any of you have meetings in the run-up

to Christmas, please can you ensure

that your Club is aware of this scheme so

that they know what is being taken

forward, and if your Club is interested

they will be asked to react quickly to the

request to take part in the pilot.

In the meantime, please watch out for

more information in the mailings.

Additionally, if you have any questions or

concerns then please contact me.

I hope you are as excited as I am about

this opportunity to move SIGBI forward.

Rush stands for Reaching the Unreached

through Self Help and is based in Kakamega

near Lake Victoria in Kenya. It works with

over 2,000 people including 400 orphans and

vulnerable children. It is a real community

undertaking which has been linked to a local

school here for a number of years. The Rush

primary school is top performing (5th in Kenya

for maths) and the new secondary school is

growing apace. Alongside it is a social

programme of community projects, clothing

and bedding programmes, a feeding

programme for HIV / Aids patients, anti

malaria nets and general health clinics. The

community also all pitch in to help build

homes for those in need as a result of illness

or misfortune, they also provide blankets and

mattresses with beds being made by the

carpentry students. http://www.rushuk.org.uk/

Having seen pictures of a ‘community build’ SI

Beckenham decided to invest £700 of its

reserve funds to finance the building of a

home for a family, including a separate toilet

and wash area. The husband had been

murdered a year earlier, whilst at work,

leaving a now 24 year old widow with two

sons under 4, the in-laws had been very

unkind commandeering their land and leaving

the family ostracized, totally isolated without

support or income, and a hut with barely any

roof, plastic in parts of the walls and it all on

the point of collapse with very wet bare floors.

The mother was too weak to care for the

youngsters when the founder of Rush heard

of her plight by chance whilst at a local

funeral.

We are delighted to see how our contribution,

including a blanket made by Club members,

has transformed their lives and given them a

fresh start. They are now all healthy, and,

although where they live is very remote, they

will be able to draw on and contribute to the

Rush community. Their village chief and a

local pastor are also keeping a friendly eye

out for them so their future is now one of

hope.

Empty ‘ice buckets’, WaterAid wins! Following other Club PA work Beckenham and District joined by friends and other Soroptimists from the Region enjoyed a fantastic evening of fun and mouthwatering food at Friends of Mine. All that, a great atmosphere, lovely piano music, the chance to chat with friends and the chance to win extremely generous prizes donated by local businesses, even a week’s holiday in Sicily!

Report from Hilary

Roberry Federation

Councillor

Beckenham project

with RUSH UK

Notes from New

President

Eastbourne Club

love in a box

Regional Newsletter December 2014

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Tony and the team were simply superb as well as generously giving part of the ticket price to WaterAid’s ‘to be a girl’ campaign. The £851 raised was doubled by the Government’s pledge and will help improve the lives of women and girls by bringing water and filling buckets ….. not wasting it to impress. Overall a win win of ‘no ice’ just cool fun in a very good cause.

Yesterday (20th November) we had a

letter published in the Canterbury &

District edition of the Kentish Gazette,

which was in response to a front page

article 30th October.

Here is a transcript of the article:

We were very impressed to read your

excellent and insightful article “My Life of

Crime” 30th October, raising awareness

about the sad life story of a very

vulnerable woman. From our recent work

on this subject, we know that Joanne's

story is typical of many women caught up

in the criminal justice system. Women

who commit crime are highly likely to

be victims as well as offenders.

Research shows that more than half

(53%) of women in prison report

having experienced emotional,

physical or sexual abuse as a child.

Almost a half (46%) report having

been victims of domestic violence.

Imprisoning mothers, in particular,

for non-violent offences has a

damaging impact on their children as

well as being costly to the state. We

believe that a different attitude and

approach is badly needed to enable these

women to move on more positively in

their lives and reduce the risk of

reoffending.

I am writing on behalf of Soroptimist

International which is an international

women’s organisation who work together

to transform the lives of women and girls

locally and around the world. Since April

last year, Soroptimists throughout the UK

have worked in partnership with the

Prison Reform Trust to reduce the

imprisonment of women who do not pose

a danger to the public.

The Canterbury Club earlier this year

hosted a focus group of people from

relevant local organisations, to pool

together information about services

available locally to women in difficulty,

and ask delegates what they would like to

see improved. We are now working with

some of the delegates to support their

efforts to reduce women’s reoffending.

The Eastbourne Club spent one of their

Club evenings in October wrapping and

filling shoe-boxes with toys, sweets,

writing equipment and small items of

clothing for the Love-in-a-Box project;

we have a special commitment to this

project, as it’s based in Eastbourne, and

we know that the boxes will reach their

destination safely, giving pleasure to

many children in Eastern Europe.

Another benefit of doing a practical

project like this during a Club meeting is

that it really brings Club members

together

EAST GRINSTEAD

Eastbourne Pink Tea for Breast Cancer.

More than £400 was raised for the

Breast Cancer campaign charity by a Pink

tea and quiz held by Eastbourne

Soroptimists on Saturday (Oct 18). Many

of the 60 people attending wore pink in

keeping with the campaign’s theme. The

event included tea with a selection of

home-made cakes, a raffle and a fun quiz

at the Eastbourne Bowling Club. The

club held the event as their contribution

to raising funds and awareness. Some of

the club members and guests are

pictured ‘in the pink’.

Eastbourne club also recently had a speaker

from a homeless project. The speaker actually

waited outside wrapped in a knitted blanket –

it was interesting the response she got from

members as they arrived for the meeting!

Eastbourne Club

Love in a box

Canterbury Club

Letter to the paper

Regional Newsletter December 2014

Page 4 of 5

On Tuesday 18 November East Grinstead

Soroptimists and their friends were

treated to an excellent performance of

Man of the Moment, a play by Alan

Ayckbourn. Forest Players, an amateur

dramatic group based in Forest Row,

West Sussex, generously donated the

first evening of their 5 night run to the

Club in aid of President Janet

Vanderhook’s charities, Sightsavers and

Canine Partners. The audience of

around 70 people thoroughly enjoyed an

amusing and yet thought-provoking

evening presented by a cast of the

highest calibre. A grand total of

approximately £700.00 was raised to be

shared between the two charity

As their main event in support of the BIG

Project, East Grinstead Club held a

“Bagathon” – sale of nearly new

handbags as well as scarves and

jewellery – at the Capel Classic Car and

Bike Show on Saturday 16 August.

The weather was kind and the crowds

came out. The Soroptimist stall proved

popular with visitors and during the

course of the day over £700.00 was

raised for the BIG Project.

This was an initiative that involved all the

Club members either before the event

collecting and preparing goods for sale

or setting up and running the stall on the

day. It was not, however, all hard work

as, in true Soroptimist fashion, members

enjoyed sharing a picnic together at

lunchtime! The “Bagathon” was a

golden opportunity not only to raise

funds but also to raise awareness of the

Soroptimist movement and its aims and

objectives.

Our Friendship Link with SI Freetown has

enabled the Club to keep up to date with

the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone through

President Nana’s personal reports, which

are included in our monthly newsletter

to members. As she was unable to

attend Federation Conference, SIGBI

have refunded her delegate fee, which

will be sent to the charity ‘Build on

Books,’ based in the UK, and currently

assisting children orphaned as a result of

the Ebola virus. Monies raised from our

annual fun Quiz Night in January

supports the work of SI Freetown Club.

Our proposed PA activities for 2015

include linking in with Gravesham events

to publicise ‘Soroptimists in the

Community’ and continue with our

awareness raising of the scourges of

forced marriage, FGM and human

trafficking.

The saying goes that one picture is worth

a thousand words, so in the interests of

brevity here are a few caption stories

recording some of our other activities.

Presentation at Darent Valley Hospital of

five day/night clocks, which help patients

suffering with dementia.

Members serve afternoon tea with

home-made cakes to adult carers from

Gravesham and Dartford who look after

loved one often on a 24/7 basis.

Setting out our stall at Kent Police Safety

Store at Bluewater Shopping Centre in

October, highlighting our current

projects on forced marriage, FGM and

human trafficking.

Responding to the Mustard Seed

Mission’s Love In A Box Scheme – this

year we wrapped and filled 18

shoeboxes of Christmas gifts for 11-15

year-old underprivileged children in

Ukraine and Moldova.

Remembering the fallen –the club’s

wreath was laid during the Royal British

Legion’s Remembrance Service by Surin

K Singh, accompanied by Isobel Kesby.

Gravesend Club News

East Grinstead Club

Alan Ayckbourne Play

East Grinstead

Bag a Thon

Regional Newsletter December 2014

Page 5 of 5

A special cake and Champagne for one of

our long-serving members - Peggy Mersh

recently celebrated 60 years of marriage

to Alf: both Gravesham councillors for

many years.

We had two tables of wonderful hand made crafts for Christmas. Margaret Ambrose and Pam Renton have worked so hard over the last few months making all those lovely things to sell. The tables looked very festive. The weather was a little damp and may have kept some people away, but we had a steady flow of visitors to the hall. At the end of the day we had made £250 for our Maidstone charities.

Maidstone supporting local projects

The club are supporting two excellent

community resource centres in Maidstone;

*The Vine resource centre in Shepway, -

transforming lives and shaping

communities

*Fusion Health Living Centre, Parkwood, -

providing opportunities to local people.

This month we presented lots of toiletries

and cosmetics to the Princess Project,

Part of the Fusion Health Living Centre.

These go into pamper packs for new

mums.

S.I Medway Towns got together again to

fill over 70 “Boxes of Love”. Each year

members enjoy a social evening when

everyone brings a selection of practical

and fun gifts which are pooled and then

divided into boxes according to the age

and gender of the recipient – all

wrapped in Christmas paper.

These are distributed by Blythswood

Trust to deprived children in orphanages,

schools, hospitals, care homes etc in

Eastern Europe and Pakistan. They sent

118,000 “boxes of love” last year and

the volunteers who distribute them are

amazed at how much joy a simple

shoebox can bring. Everyday items that

are taken for granted here, a new hat

and scarf, a toothbrush with some

toothpaste, a small toy, some soap, bring

great joy to thousands of people who

live in desperate poverty. Like Kreshnik,

a 5 year old boy in sub zero Kosovo

whose parents are barely able to feed

him. He was delighted with his hat and

gloves. Blertian, a 15 year old boy for

whom the shoe box was his first gift

since he was 3years old. Too poor to go

to school, he was thrilled to receive

shampoo and deodorant and kept asking

who sent it. Kashif, a 7 year old boy

who has been in an orphanage in

Pakistan since he was three months old

was overwhelmed that someone loved

him enough to prepare a gift for him.

It costs relatively little to fill a box which

will give so much pleasure and it is a

social event that all members enjoy.

Regional Dates

Regional Meeting dates for the future:

14th March, 13

th June, 3

rd Oct. 2015

Regional Executive Dates:

14th Feb. 23

rd May, 5

th Sept. 2015

I hope you have enjoyed reading this

newsletter. I would like articles by 7th

March for the next newsletter thank you.

But please don’t wait for the deadline -

send me your articles following an event

and then I can start putting the newsletter

together as your items arrive.

If your club has not contributed this time

maybe you would like to send me an

article for next time – it is your newsletter

celebrating your wonderful projects.

I would be interested to know how you

have used this newsletter as a recruitment

tool for new soroptimists.

I also think it might be helpful as part of

the SIGBI new Growth Plan. Why not

send it to your friends for Christmas by

email to show what our organisation does

I am sure lots of people will be interested.

Denise Staplehurst. Newsletter Editor.

Maidstone Club

Headcorn Christmas

Craft Fair

Medway Towns

Love in a box