President’s Night 2009
In May S. I. Tamworth held their Charter Dinner. The evening was a great success. The highlight of the entertainment was a balloon art competition to make a “hat”. All the guests had an hilarious time and President Dawn Perry entered into the spirit of the evening with a Snow White “Ensemble”!
International Night 2009
The Club ended our Diamond year with a very successful international evening where President Lisa Hardy presented cheques to the charities supported by the club.The main charity was Tamworth Special Needs Nursery. Members of the nursery staff were invited guests and they took along a wheel chair which had been presented by the Club in a previous year. President Lisa presented the nursery with a cheque for £2500 to buy another chair or a piece of equipment.
A number of other cheques were presented to recipients who included Project Sierra and the SI Benevolent Fund. Cheque presentations amounted to £8450.
International Nights
Please use the links to find out more information about our International nights.
Charter Dinners
To find out more about these events please use the links on the left-hand side.
Highlights 2008-2009
World Environment Day 2008
To mark World Environment Day on the 5th June SI Tamworth planted two trees.
A Himalayan Birch tree was planted in the garden at the Sir Robert Peel Hospital,
and rose tree was planted in the Garden of Memories at Two Rivers School.
World Peace Day 2008
SI Tamworth celebrated World Peace Day with a special service held in Tamworth Parish Church. More than 100 children attended the service from local schools. The children contributed to the service by giving vocal performances. Tamworth Ladies’ choir also sang. 12 doves were released at the end of the service.
The event also highlighted land mine awareness. All schools have been invited to take part in a competition in painting or poetry on the theme of Peace. The winners were presented with their awards by President Lisa Hardy and the Mayor of Tamworth, Councillor Brian Beale in a ceremony held at Tamworth Library.
Over 100 people, parents, grandparents, teachers and Soroptimists watched as the prizes of book tokens and books were given out. The standard of entries were very high and it was moving to see the winners excitement and the pride of parents, grandparents and teachers.
Saturday of Service 2009
This year the Saturday of Service was a recycling event.
Members and friends recycled:-
Used stamps
Used postcards
Foreign coins and notes
Used cartridges (not Epson)
Old mobile phones
Belts
Handbags
Pairs of shoes that are clean and in reasonable order
Quality clothing for men, women and children
Clean bedding / Curtains / Towels
Clean, good quality children’s toys
Videos
CD’s
Jewellery which is no longer required or is broken
Old style sewing machines
Ornaments and china
Good condition tools of any kind, especially carpentry tools
Pens / Pencils/ Blank paper / Exercise books / A4 pads
Knitting wool / Knitted items such as baby clothes, children’s cardigans and sweater
Toiletries
A ‘Bronze box’ full of 1p and 2p coins went to Water Aid.
Money raised from the sale of food and any donations brought a Rotary Life Box. Items for Purple Salute were also collected.
Ecuador visit
During a trip to the Amazon Rain Forest two members of SI Tamworth visited a small Community school in a forest clearing in Ecuador. They took pencils, crayons and notebooks for the pupils. The school only has 15 pupils aged between 6 and 13 years old. The children came from miles around either barefoot through the forest or by river in small canoes. It was certainly thought provoking.
Knit and Natter
Members of SI Tamworth recently held a knit and natter day to make garments for third world children. Lots of garments and squares for blankets were completed for this project, organised by the Programme Action committee.
Welcome
Welcome to the web pages of SI Tamworth.
SI Tamworth was formed in March 1948 with twelve members and the first Charter Dinner was held at the Peel Arms Hotel on 25th June 1948.
To day we have over 50 members.
Please use the links on the left to see our latest projects and read our news.
You may contact us using the web form, but if you wish additional information, do not hesitate to email us at sitamworth@yahoo.co.uk.
2009 - 2010
Representatives from Headway, a brain injury association, were guests at our April meeting. This year President Dawn has chosen Headway as her main charity to support. It helps patients with brain injuries and their families.
2008 - 2009
Members and friends enjoyed a thrilling Race Night on Saturday 6th September 2008. A total of £594 was raised for Madam Presidents Charity
Fashion, Style and a touch of glamour helped to raise more than £2000 for the Tamworth Special Needs Nursery at Our Ladies Night on Wednesday 22nd October 2008. Over 200 guests a fashion show sponsored by Caroline Jane and Millarde Fashions and a display of hairstyles by Rage.
Members of SI Tamworth and guests had a fascinating and entertaining evening when Mr John S White came along to talk as a Georgian butler. He dressed in the authentic uniform and laid a dining table exactly as it would have been laid in a rich household in mid 18th Century England.
Everyone was amazed at the amount of accoutrements placed upon the table.
An excellent meal followed the talk and was served 20th Century style by SI waitresses.
SI Tamworth’s final fundraising event for a Special Needs Nursery and other local charities was a Glen Miller evening.
Some of the guests ‘got in the mood’ by dressing in wartime style.
There were some very nostalgic costumes.
Sky dive
Members of SI Tamworth were delighted and very proud to support club member the Rev. Denise Burgess in her fund raising sky dive. She did a 6,000 feet freefall after jumping out of an aeroplane at 12,000 feet to raise money to help keep a cash strapped group of Parishes in the Mease Valley open for worship. Denise thought a skydive might capture the imagination and encourage interest in the project. It has been a great success and to date has raised more than £1,000.
Diamond Anniversary
In 2008 SI Tamworth celebrated its Diamond Anniversary as SI Tamworth was chartered as a club on 25th June 1948.
We celebrated with a glittering evening at The Tower Suite, Drayton Manor, Tamworth.
President Lisa, along with past and present members, were joined by SIGBI President Marguerite Woodstock Riley.
The evening included lighting the Candles of Friendship, cutting of the birthday cake and entertainment by Lisa Waddingham who sang songs from the decades.
Every lady received a special gift of a silver lapel pin made by SI Tamworth member Gwyneth Brown.
2008 - 2009
In May, Peter Eddon, a local historian, gave an interesting and informative presentation on the life of Lady Peel.
As shown in the picture above, in the spirit of the talk, members wore hats and gloves to the meal.
In October S.I. Tamworth did not have a speaker but instead learned how to Line Dance with Gordon and Joyce Knight. Just over half the members took part (see picture below) and although some were a bit nervous it was an enjoyable experience. One or two of the novices were excellent - one or two decided not to give up their day jobs!!!
In November Members listened to travel tales from Dave and Nicky who spoke about their VSO work in Ghana where they were involved in teaching and setting up schools. The picture below shows one of the schools they taught in.
In January Professor Ian Booth, who is the Leonard Parsons Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Dean of Medicine at the University of Birmingham, came to speak on behalf of WellChild. He told members about his work as a Gastro-enterologist and as a Genetic Epidemiologist. The majority of club had little knowledge of this, but Professor Booth explained superbly just what was involved in the work. He was an excellent speaker and everyone commented what an interesting evening it had been.
In March Corinne Knight who lives in Tamworth, came to speak about Purple Salute. Her partner Sergeant Bob O’Connor died while serving with the RAF in Iraq. She set up Purple Salute in his memory, but also to honour those who continue to serve our country – the ongoing efforts of our military and emergency personnel. Now a national charity, SI Tamworth has been supporting Purple Salute as part of club’s Programme Action work. This was another excellent talk.
Corrine Knight centre with left President Lisa Hardy, and right Vivian Khan, SI Councillor and member of SI Tamworth.
SI Tamworth have helped a troop of Brownies achieve their dream camping trip.
The club has made a donation to Dosthill Brownies to help them finance a visit to the 90th Anniversary of Guiding Camp.
However, the girls had to work for their money. The Brownies were invited to find out what a Soroptimist was and to come to club to receive their cheque for £100.
Eleven Brownies came and gave their answers to the question which they then completed with each girl holding up a beautifully designed letter of the alphabet to spell the word SOROPTIMIST.
Speaker Meetings
Please us the links on the left hand side to read about our recent speaker meetings.
Programme Action
Programme Action is the focus of all Soroptimist clubs.
SI Tamworth has regular Programme Action discussions during its Business Meetings, speakers on Programme Action topics for some of its Dinner Meetings and participates in a number of Programme Action based activities.
Please use the links on the left hand side to find out more about our activities.
Useful links
Purple salute
SI Tamworth supports Purple salute by sending items for the soldiers in Selly Oak Hospital Army Unit.
Hearing Dogs for the Deaf
This was our main charity in 2004-2005
National Literacy Trust
This was our main charity in 2007-2008
Krizevac Project
SI Tamworth supports this by collecting old sewing machines
Knitting
We have currently started a knitting project. Our first Knit and Natter will be in February 2009.
We are knitting:-
Bears for Burundi.
Each bear is worth 4 bricks in the building of a school. Please use the link below for the pattern.
Burundi Bears pattern
Blankets 3ft x 4ft or 6ft by 4ft
Plain V neck jumpers for ages 6-14 years
Cardigans from premature size to about 32 inch chest.
Recycling
In our efforts not to waste the world’s resources we have started a club collecting and recycling programme.
We collect:-
Spectacles
Used stamps
Used postcards
Foreign coins/notes
Used cartridges
Used mobile phones
Paired shoes, belts and bags
Quality clean clothing
Books
Items for toiletry bags
Toys
Videos/CDs
Clean bedding
Curtains
Towels
Old style sewing machines
Ornaments and china
Tools (especially carpentry)
Books, pens and blank paper
Tamworth Talking Newspapers
Members of SI Tamworth are helping Tamworth Talking Newspapers by reading articles.
St Giles Hospice
St Giles Hospice is our local Hospice and offers medical and nursing care for people living with cancer and support for their families
Throughout the year events are held to raise funds for the hospice.
To learn more about the hospice please click here.
Pathway Project
The Pathway Project provides help and support to woman experiencing abuse in the home.
Members support the project by providing toiletries and other useful items
For more information about the work of the Pathway Project please click here.
Stroke Patient support
Our cookbook, Fabulous Foods – 101 secrets revealed, was so popular that we sold every single copy and made £9,000 profit.
Half of the monies raised was used to buy equipment for Stroke Patient Support at the Sir Robert Peel Hospital.
During February 2008 members paid a visit to the stroke ward to see the equipment our money had brought.
Cecily’s Fund
Cecily’s fund helps Zambian AIDS Orphans.
In August 2004 we raised money for this charity by holding a Jazz in the Park music event.
Later in the year many of our members attended the annual picnic at Woodstock where Madam President presented a cheque for £1310 to Alison Eastwood.
Two of our members were able to visit some of the children supported by Cecily’s fund.
In 2009 members of SI Tamworth and guests had a fascinating and entertaining evening when Mr John S White came along to talk as a Georgian butler. He dressed in the authentic uniform and laid a dining table exactly as it would have been laid in a rich household in mid 18th Century England. Everyone was amazed at the amount of accoutrements placed upon the table. An excellent meal followed the talk and was served 20th Century style by SI waitresses.
As regular supporters we are now mentioned on the Cecily’s Fund supporters page.
To find out more about the work of Cecily’s Fund please click here.
Our projects
SI Tamworth supports several projects both home and abroad.
To find out more about our projects please use the links on the left-hand side.
Social and Fundraising Events
Our forthcoming social events are listed below.
To find out more about these events please use the links on the left-hand side.
Meeting dates
Venue of meetings, unless otherwise stated:
Hamilton Suite
Drayton Manor Family Theme Park
Fazeley
B78 3TW
All meetings and events start at 7:30 pm unless otherwise stated.
MAY 2010
13th BUSINESS MEETING
Please note change of venue to the California Room
27th DINNER MEETING
The Alzheimer’s Society. President Julia’s chosen charity
JUNE 2010
10th BUSINESS MEETING
20th 62nd Annual Dinner Anniversary of Charter
President Julia invites you all to join us at our 62nd Annual Dinner
JULY 2010
8th BUSINESS MEETING
22nd PICNIC MEETING
Middleton Lakes bird walk
SEPTEMBER 2010
9th BUSINESS MEETING
23rd DINNER MEETING
Dr Julie Sherlock - Child Protection
OCTOBER 2010
14th BUSINESS MEETING
28th DINNER MEETING
Richard Westcott - the ‘Pantomime Dame’.
NOVEMBER 2010
11th BUSINESS MEETING
25th DINNER MEETING
Robert Davison - The Irish Rover
DECEMBER 2010
9th CHRISTMAS PARTY
Come along and join in the festive fun of our annual Christmas Party
JANUARY 2011
13th BUSINESS MEETING
27th DINNER MEETING
My treasures - a nostalgic trip with the treasures and memories of our members
FEBRUARY 2011
10th BUSINESS MEETING
24th DINNER MEETING
Reflexology with Helen Billingsley
MARCH 2011
10th BUSINESS MEETING
24th INTERNATIONAL EVENING
April 2011
14th AGM Annual General Meeting and Change of Insignia
28th JOINT BUSINESS and DINNER
This is a joint Business and Dinner meeting. The business part of the evening will take place after dinner.
Club Officers
President: Julia Goodall
Immediate Past President: Dawn Perry
President Elect: Jackie Edwards
Vice President:Vicky Vernon
Secretary: Kath Jones
Treasurer: Jan Morris
Programme Action Officer: Viv Khan