Midland Arden Region A Message from our Regional President Ann Keepax Theme for the Year DEEDS NOT WORDS Where has the year gone..... I can’t believe that this is my final report. At Conference I will hand over the chain to Jill Yarwood with all good wishes and hope that she enjoys her time as Midland Arden Regional President, as much as I have. It has been a real privilege to be your Regional President. In the year as Regional President I have had the opportunity of getting to know clubs and members, as well as hearing all about the wonderful work you are all doing. And yes we are making a difference to women and girls lives – locally, nationally and interna- tionally. Please do keep up this excellent work. Finally, I would like to thank the Officers on the Regional Committee who have not only supported me, but give so much time to ensuring the smooth running of our Re- gion. Maggie Bayliss steps down as Regional Treasurer, having served on the Officers Committee for 10 years. A huge contribution – thank you Maggie from everyone in the Region. Once again, thank you for the opportunity of being your Regional President AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 8 CLUB NEWS
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Midland Arden Region
A Message from our Regional President Ann Keepax
Theme for the Year !DEEDS NOT WORDS
Where has the year gone..... I can’t believe that this is my final report. At Conference I will hand over the chain to Jill Yarwood with all good wishes and hope that she enjoys her time as Midland Arden Regional President, as much as I have. It has been a real privilege to be your Regional President.!
In the year as Regional President I have had the opportunity of getting to know clubs and members, as well as hearing all about the wonderful work you are all doing. And yes we are making a difference to women and girls lives – locally, nationally and interna-tionally. Please do keep up this excellent work.!
Finally, I would like to thank the Officers on the Regional Committee who have not only supported me, but give so much time to ensuring the smooth running of our Re-gion. Maggie Bayliss steps down as Regional Treasurer, having served on the Officers Committee for 10 years. A huge contribution – thank you Maggie from everyone in the Region.!
!Once again, thank you for the opportunity of!
being your Regional President!
AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 8 CLUB NEWS
!Day of Friendship !
On Sunday 28th September members from Soroptimist clubs in the 3 Midland Regions, along with friendship link club members, family and friends, gathered at the National Memorial Ar-boretum to celebrate the planting of a tree to mark the 80th Anniversary of the founding of Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland. Members were joined by Federation President Margaret Oldroyd, and her husband Robert, along with International President Ann Garvie. After the marking of the spot where the tree will be planted and unveiling of the plaque, the Peace Pledge was read by our own Regional President Ann Keepax and Edna Schafer Hughes - Regional President of Midland East.!!Members then made their way to one of the woods in the Arboretum to plant some bulbs. Regional President Ann, Regional President Elect Jill, and husband Simon, along with Isobel Smith Federation Director without portfolio could be found planting snowdrops.!!The weather was gorgeous everyone had time to chat and catch up with friends. A large par-ty from Liverpool had organised a coach to join the fun, as well as members from Cardiff and Manchester to name but a few. It was certainly a day to enjoy friendship and to mark in-ternational day of peace.
Below !Jane Davies (Solihull Club), Margaret Oldroyd (SIGBI Federation President), Isobel Smith (Federation Director without Portfolio), Ann
Keepax president of Midland Arden, Ann Garvie (Soroptimist International President),
Jan Hemlin (Chair UK Programme Action Committee), Su Solly (Bromsgrove and Red-
The Club has adopted the theme of Violence against Women as a Club Programme Action project. Progress will be monitored at each Business Meeting. ! !This is the second year of a four year scheme organised by the Education Group to present an Achievement Award to a student at Queen Alexandra College. The College, where the Central Birmingham Club meetings are held, has a wide range of courses to cater for students with spe-cial needs. President Pat Kirby presented the successful student, Charlotte, with the Achievement Award of a cup, a certificate and £100 in Amazon vouchers at the College Family Day held at the Bingley Hall, Birmingham on July 4th.The runners up were presented with cer-tificates to mark their year’s achievement. It was a moving and happy oc-casion…!!Thirty eight blankets knitted by friends and members were taken to the July Regional Meeting for the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. Most notable was one knitted in the colours of the Ethiopian National flag. To date the total donated through SICB to two hundred and two – and we are still knitting!!!Ann Hill represented the Club as a sighted guide at the annual Sight Village Exhibition held at the Bingley Hall organised by Queen Alexandra College. This inspiring exhibition brings to-gether suppliers of all types of equipment and services for the visually impaired. Sighted guides are on hand to escort visitors round the exhibition.!!The Club continues to support the Food Bank based at The New Life Baptist Church, Kings Heath. Thanks to the support of Sainsbury’s Maypole store, a rota of members led by Jean Nutt collect food donated by customers on designated days. !!Rhianna Frost, the Girl Guide link who received Club support noted in the last Newsletter has sent us two short videos of the University of Cambridge Orchestra playing at the Ghent Music Festival in Belgium.!!At the September Business Meeting Regional President, Ann Keep-ax, and Girl Guiding representatives, Sue Burton (Assistant County Commissioner), Pat Broughton (County President), Janet Nunn (County Leadership Co-ordinator) and Lin Jenks (County Co-ordi-nator Commissioner for Support and Induction) were welcomed as guests. !President Pat presented a certificate to Mair Jones marking her forty years of membership of Central Birmingham Club. The UN-ESCO International Literacy Day and the outbreak of WW1 were marked by a programme of poems and readings relevant to the period organised by Margaret Kennedy, Jean Hill and Jean Nutt. Extracts were from the writings of Jessie Pope, !Madeline Bedford, Vera Brittain, May Wedderburn and Alice Maynall.!!!Used stamps and empty computer printer cartridges continue to be collected for recycling. Christmas boxes will be filled for residents at the Birmingham Crisis Centre again this year.!!
CENTRAL BIRMINGHAM
AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 8 CLUB NEWS
Friendship Link - Arnhem May 2014 The club received an invitation from Soroptimist International Arnhem, one of its Friendship Link Clubs, to a Friendship Day in May. I was delighted to accept and was offered hospitality by one of the Dutch club members. !
The theme of the day was ‘Family Run Businesses’ and we started with morning coffee and cakes at Burgers Zoo. The first presen-tation was by the current owner of the zoo, which has been a family-run business for just over 100 years. !This was followed by presentations by members from clubs in Croydon, Düsseldorf, and Levanger. After a lovely buffet lunch it was back to work; we were split into groups for an interchange of ideas on how we work on projects in our various countries. !At 3 pm sharp three guides appeared to show us something of the
zoo and to take us behind the scenes. We then had tea and more cake before leaving the zoo and going to Rozet, a new architecturally interesting cultural building in the city centre. After a guided tour of the building we had dinner in its restaurant before going our separate ways. It was a busy day, but full of interest, and it gave us all an op-portunity to meet old friends and make new ones.!I stayed in Arnhem for the weekend and enjoyed a tour of the city, a visit to an open-air folk museum, dinner in a member’s home on Friday and brunch at the club president’s house on Sunday before my flight home. It is on occasions like this where you really appreciate the in-ternational aspect of our organisation.!Ann!Strawberry Tea !On Saturday, 12 July, the weather was glorious and Muriel’s beautiful garden was the perfect setting for our club’s strawberry tea. As well as homemade scones with strawberry jam, we en-joyed refreshing tea in lovely china cups and generous bowlfuls of strawberries an cream.!Club President June welcomed members and guests, and Sue gave a brief presentation about our charity for the current year, Plan UK’s ‘Because I Am A Girl’ campaign. The raffle and our charity together raised £346.80 for our charity.!Wine into Water At one of our club evenings, we ‘turned wine into water’: after collecting empty wine bot-tles for several weeks, all were filled with wa-ter and wrapped in pretty paper, along with several bottles still containing wine. We then raffled the bottles, and everybody cheerfully took the chance of winning a bottle of water rather than wine. We raised £75 for the BIG project.!
COVENTRY
AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 8 CLUB NEWS
On the 8th June seven hardy souls rose very early to assist marshalling at the Two Castles Run. We had an eventful morning, but all survived and received a £350 dona-tion from the Rotary Club which we will be able to give to the Refuge.!!On 14th June we had a very successful day at the Lion’s Show. Bronwen our President was invited to join the cavalcade of 32 motortrikes that toured the town before open-ing the show. An interesting experience! We raised £1000 for Friends of Sick Chil-dren in Malawi, selling the plants kindly donated to us by Borden Hill Nurseries. The monies raised along with £500 received from SI Remscheid and SI Mulhouse at the Friend-ship Weekend has now been given to the Charity. !!!June also saw the launch of our Facebook page. Thank you to Anita for running the page. We now have over 200 friends and will review its impact at our September Meeting.!!
!!!!On Saturday 19th July, a wonderful afternoon was enjoyed by all at Sharon and Daves house where we gathered to support Look Good Feel Better with an afternoon of Pimms and Poetry. Presided over by our Mistress of Ceremonies Carole Jevons we indulged ourselves with re-freshing Pimms and mouth watering deserts whilst listening to poems selected by various members. Some poems were amusing, some sad and some very moving but all delivered beautifully. !
KENILWORTH AND DISTRICT
Selling plants at the Lion’s Show
Carole and Nicks Canal Trips 2014 !Carole and Nick have really enjoyed the boat trips with mem-bers, family and friends from both Kenilworth and Cardiff and are happy to offer them again next year. We are extremely pleased with the generous donations to the Cape Verde charity and look forward with interest to discovering next year's se-lected recipient. Carole and Nick raised £641.35.!
AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 8 CLUB NEWS
KIDDERMINSTER AND DISTRICT
Greetings from Kidderminster and District. Once again a round up of the last six months. The Club now has 26 members. We have been working hard to raise the profile of Soroptimist work, our club and combining this with campaigning and awareness raising – all at local events including a Baby and Early Years Fayre, local carnivals and most re-cently a Peace Event in Kidderminster. The latter really important at such a time of tur-bulence in the world. As a result we have put together some good stands and materials, including information on domestic abuse, FGM and trafficking, attracting good interest and hopefully future new members.
In April President Stephanie Ainsley handed over to President Christine Holloway which coincided with our Day of Service (main picture above) when we produced 50 drawsheets and 50+ hats, jackets and premature baby outfits for the Basingstoke Hoima Partnership, spearheaded by a team of dedicated mid-wives who visit Uganda regularly to assist in tackling the 10 times higher rate of infant and maternal mortal-ity. This service has now been taken up by a local knit-ting circle.!
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Service still continues in the local community through members working with local schools (2 members now Governors at our target school), the local Food Bank, and lo-cal initiatives. Our member Cindy Black has raised £1000 for an adult Downs Syn-drome care home through her lunches and these have been a good opportunity to meet with a cross section of 40+ women.!
Fellowship food and fun continue to be critical to our club with our regular supper meetings, a now annual theatre outing and summer outings walking in the local forest area. Christine is ob-viously keen to keen to “keep us on our toes” in more ways than one.!
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AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 8 CLUB NEWS
!LEAMINGTON AND WARWICK CLUB
President Santosh’s year got off to a great start :!On 16th May members took part in the “Great Warwickshire Show and Tell” held at the Museum in Warwick Market Square. We were one of 50 stall holders representing the culture and heritage of the county. It provided a great opportunity to raise the profile of Soroptimism.!President Santosh’s charity is Warwickshire Young Carers with which she and fellow member Janet Bonser are involved. At our May Meeting Debbie Bignell (Chief Execu-tive) spoke of the work of the organisation in providing support for young carers in-cluding a listening service ,group activities, support with educational needs and putting carers in touch with other agencies which can help. She was accompanied by “Abby”who spoke movingly of the impact caring for her disabled brother has had and continues to have on the lives of herself and her mother.!On 9th August the club held a curry lunch in President Santosh’s garden. Those present included members from neighbouring clubs, friends and neighbours. The food was de-licious and the sun shone! We made £465 for Young Carers and the raffle raised £217 for the BIG project.!!Together with S.I. Kenilworth we will be raising further funds for Young Carers plus the local branch of Parkin-son’s UK at the club’s 17th Swimathon at Warwick School Pool on 19th October. Please support us by send-ing donations or better still entering a team. Gillian will be delighted to hear from you on [email protected].!We have further raised the profile of Young Carers by nominating Matt Deakin (Project Worker for Warwick District) for the Citizen of the Year Awards run by the Brakes Trust for persons living and working to support the community in Warwick District. He has been short listed and will be attending the award ceremony at the Bridge House Theatre, Warwick, on 26th September!!We have celebrated President Santosh’s Asian Heritage with an informative visit to the Sikh Temple in Leamington where we were joined by members from S.I. Rugby and on a lighter note by “Music and Movement” in which members took part before our June dinner meeting. !!We were pleased to welcome Janet Hodgson (APD Learning Opportunities) to speak to us on Programme Action and Associate Membership in July!
SI Stourbridge & District Cheese & Wine evening July 2014
On a recent beautiful summer evening a Cheese & Wine event was hosted by Maggie and Mick Bayliss at their home on behalf of SI Stourbridge & District Club.!
With the help, generosity and support of their family, friends and members of Soroptimist In-ternational £605 was raised. This will be presented to Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham to further the wonderful work they are undertaking for all the families of seriously ill patients in Birmingham Children’s Hospital.!
In August and September 2013 Maggie and Mick’s daughter, her husband and their children were living there. Their granddaughter, Matilda, was very seriously ill and after two major surgical pro-cedures she had to remain in hospital for over six weeks.!
!Kay Hodgetts, Manager of Ronald McDonald House, recently came to SI Stourbridge & District Club’s dinner meeting and she gave an informative insight into the ongoing work of this wonder-ful facility. Each Ronald McDonald House relies on the goodwill and donations of their dedicated group of supporters and fundraisers. They make no charge to the families who stay there at a very unsettling, unsettling and anxious time!
Project Gambia – Ridgeway High School September 2014
Students from Ridgeway High School joined Soroptimist International Stourbridge & District Club members in September to talk about Project Gambia. Each year students from the school visit Gambia to work in the schools they support, delivering a range of activities with the chil-dren. The students have painted and refurbished the inside and outside of two schools. They have also provided the schools with a wide range of educational and teaching resources, books, toys, equipment and electric generators. At Christmas the students ship over 200 Christmas Shoeboxes for the children.!
The students gave a very interesting and informative presentation to SI club members, and a col-lection was taken on the evening to support their work.!
Bletchley Park Trip
On Saturday 16th August, members of SI Stourbridge joined with members of SI Smethwick, for a trip organised by them, to Bletchley Park, home of the codebreakers. Here we learnt that the site had global significance in World War 11 and in the development of the computer; and that women outnumbered men in the workforce, there not just in supporting roles but in making a significant contribution to codebreaking.!
Think&Solar&Cook&Solar&
Following a request from International President Ann Garvie to all Soroptimist Clubs who are members of Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) that they raise £75. Towards her international appeal, Think Solar Cook Solar, SI Stourbridge held a coffee morning on Saturday 6th September. All the money raised will be helping families in Africa with lighting and cooking.!
WINTER 2013 ISSUE 5 CLUB NEWS
STRATFORD UPON AVON AND DISTRICT
Human Trafficking: Dark Truths Brought to Light
Pavement-café clients and passing tourists in Stratford-upon-Avon were highly entertained watching the ultimate flat pack slowly gather shape into a beautiful shiny blue walk-in Gift Box with offers to Get a Good Job, Get an Education, and Find a Better Life. But these are promises made by those in the dark world of people-trafficking, and inside the Box the promises fell apart. Here, visitors read about the horrific truths of men, women and children sold into forced labour. The stories came close to home: one case featured young children found by the police in a farm in Worcestershire where they were being held against their will and forced to work.!
Human trafficking is second only to drug dealing as the most profitable area of global crime.!
Hosting the box was the brainchild of President Val Clark and builds on the seminar Stop the
Traffick – Stop the Tears she organised to mark anti-slavery day (October 18th) in 2012. Soropti-mist volunteers, helped by members of the local Amnesty group, were on hand to talk to visitors and give advice on help lines to contact. Val summed up their aims: “We are determined to en-sure there is better support for victims and survivors. We strongly believe that everyone, includ-ing corporate and business sectors, churches and faith groups and the local community, has a role to play. By working together we can all help to bring Trafficking to an end.” Anyone who suspects that they know of someone being held and made to work against their will should call the Police Trafficking Helpline on 0800 783 2589.!
The box was opened on August 7th by Ian Fradgely, mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a joint initiative of Stop The Traffik (www.stopthetraffik.org) and the United Nations Global Initiative To
A delicious strawberry tea and craft sales table, organised by a few enterprising club members in August, had a double purpose as a fundraiser. As a result we will be contributing £275.00 to township garden projects in South Africa for vulnerable women who are on their own with children to raise. Here they learn food self-sup-porting skills and also how to begin to earn a little money for their family. These gardens are part of the Mhani Gingi Social Entrepreneurial Network established by Lillian Masebenza of SI Cape of Good Hope in South Africa which is one of SI Stratford’s Friendship Link Clubs.!
Recent speakers
Endometriosis!
At our June meeting local GP Dr Cristina Ramos talked about the disease endometriosis. This condition affects between 1.5 and 6% of women of child-bearing age and occurs when endometrial tissue from the womb lining finds it way to other parts of the body. It is not life threatening but can be both painful and very debilitating. The condition is treated with hormone therapy or by surgery. Our awareness evening was brought about following a pro-posal at the last SIGBI conference in Newcastle to increase knowledge of the subject and to help women gain help. The charity Endometriosis UK have an excellent website ( www.endometriosis-uk.org ) and there is a support group in Kenilworth.!
Adavu – human trafficking awareness!
Kerry Scarlett described the Adavu Project which aims to facilitate a local response to hu-man trafficking in the West Midlands and beyond www.adavu.org.uk . It is a Birmingham Methodist District project, describing human trafficking as the movement of a person from one place to another into conditions of exploitation, using deception, coercion, the abuse of power or the abuse of someone’s vulnerability. Awareness is a key factor in suc-cess of anti-slavery work, and Kerry emphasised the importance of alerting police to con-cerns by dialing 101 or, where immediate action is needed, 999. Where anonymity is im-portant Crimestoppers (0800 555 111) can be used. Adavu is a member of the West Midlands
Regional Anti Trafficking Network consisting of people working for different organisations (statutory and non-statutory) all over the West Midlands, who might come into contact with trafficked persons through the work they do.!
Very fit members of Worcester and Dis-trict joined runners at the Worcester Race for Life and raised £115.00 for
Cancer Research UK.
A car boot sale in July raised £150.00 for the Worcestershire Breast Cancer Unit
Appeal.
In July a Strawberry and Pimm’s Tea !Party was held at Pat and Jane’s raising money for the Big Project. In total the club raised £215.00 for the Big Project.
The Cup Cake Bake Off in June with Lynda’s style of floral baking raised £100.00 for Agnes whose education
Worcester and District sponsor through FOAG at the Masindi Centre for the
Handicapped in Uganda. Right Maggie Atherton President at the Cup.
Worcester and District Soroptimist Monica Martin was hon-oured for her years of dedicated service to St. Richards Hos-pice, Worcester. At service in July at London’s Mansion House Monica was awarded the Order of Mercy.!The League of Mercy was created in 1899 by King Edward VII, then the Prince of Wales, the with the intention of recognising the work of volunteers and was re-founded as a charity in 1999.!
WINTER 2013 ISSUE 5 CLUB NEWS
Club Events !Central Birmingham !
Sunday 26th October, 2014! Charter Lunch! Marriott Hotel, Birmingham! !!Bromsgrove and Redditch !
4th October 2014! Charity Auction!!Kidderminster and District !
Thursday 13th November! Floral Art Show! Bewdley!!Kenilworth and District !
Saturday 10th October 2014!! Casino Night! ! Holiday Inn, Kenilworth !!Solihull and District !
Thursday 20th November! Fashion Workshop! John Lewis, Solihull!!Stourbridge and District !
Friday 31st October 2014! Quiz Night! St.John the Baptist Church Hall Wolverley!!Friday 28th November 2014! ! Literary Dinner! Hagley Golf Club!!
Worcester and District !Thursday 4th December 2014! Christmas Floral Arrangement! Pershore College of !! ! ! ! ! Demonstration with Lynda Owen! Horticulture!!!
!Ann Russell member from Coventry first ran the regional shop in September 1994 and she has continued to do so for the past twenty years.!
Regional President Ann Keepax, on behalf of Midland Arden Region, wishes to thank Ann Russell for providing such a brilliant service over so many years. The shop is a huge benefit to clubs, and certainly a service Regional President Ann has used many, many times.!
Ann Russell says, “I was idly looking through my cash book and noticed that the first meeting I ran the shop was in September 1994. Who said it wouldn’t last! I have enjoyed doing my little bit for the Region and it does mean that I very rarely miss a meeting.”!
WINTER 2013 ISSUE 5 CLUB NEWS
Calendar!FORTHCOMING REGIONAL MEETING & EVENTS !
Saturday 29th November 2014! Regional meeting ! ! Chesford Grange Hotel, !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Kenilworth !Saturday 14th March 2015! ! MAR Public Speaking Competition ! Stratford upon Avon! !!Saturday 21st March 2015! ! Regional meeting! ! Wolston Leisure Centre !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Nr. Coventry! !!Saturday 17th May 2015! ! Change of Insignia! ! Welcombe Hotel, Stratford upon Avon!!Monday 20th July (evening)! ! AGM & Regional Meeting! Chesford Grange Hotel!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Kenilworth!!Saturday 19th September 2015! Study Day ‘Trafficking’! Chesford Grange, Kenilworth!! ! !
SI Midland Arden Region Programme Action Chair, Dr Patricia Martin rais-ing awareness of the UKPAC “Flagship Project” Violence Against Women & Girls – Stop it Now. !Pat, ably assisted by Soroptimist colleagues from SI Kidderminster and SI Worcester & District plus cross-regional (SI Midland Chase) input from an SI Smethwick stalwart Christine Skett ‘manned’ an exhibition over the two days of the August Bank Holiday week-end at the Sandwell Show at the invitation of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.!!Many members of the public and their families came along to the stand and signed the Purple Teardrop campaign petition on the banning of ‘sex for sale’ advertisements as well as completing the Community questionnaire on Modern Day Slavery. Leaflets and other hand-outs were available to explain what the Soroptimists are, what we do and how they might join us.!!Longer term there is potential to develop further projects with the Council which fit!within!our!educate,(empower(and(enable!mantra!to!improve!the!lives!of!women!and!girls.!
WINTER 2013 ISSUE 5 CLUB NEWS
There will be four issues of our new Midlands Ar-den newsletter
Please e mail club news (200 words maximum) and photographs to
Spring 14th February - publication in March Summer 14th May - publication in June Autumn 14th September - publication in October Winter 14th November - publication in December
Our president is particularly interested in pro-gramme action events and how your club is help-ing the community in your area. (Maximum 200
words and one picture PLEASE.) Lets also celebrate new members of our clubs so send me their names for inclusion in the news-
SIGBI Friendship Link Newsletter !Do you want to know more about friendship links? The friendship link newsletter is an excel-lent way to see how other clubs develop and form links plus continue partnerships. http://sigbi.org/members/files/Friendship-Link-Newsletter-Sept-2014.pdf !Also visit the SIGBI website http://sigbi.org/ a sub link will take you to Friendship links. !The Friendship Weekend organised by Midlands Arden club SI Kenilworth and District was at-tended by all but one of their links . Soroptimists from France, Germany, Netherlands and from within the UK gathered to share the celebratory moments of their Charter Anniversary. They en-joyed an English Luncheon and the popular Jane Austen tour at the Stoneleigh Abbey.
