On September 9, Tenby and District Soroptimist Club met for their first meeting after the summer break in Heywood Mount Hotel, and in the absence of president Dilys Jenkinson, president-elect Jenny Deverson took the chair.
Following a meal, and before the business meeting commenced, the members welcomed Mrs. Pat Price, a trustee of the Tenby Arts Festival, who gave a brief talk on the festival, and went through the programme for the week, making it sound very exciting.
Opening the business meeting, president-elect Jenny read the president's report highlighting some of the events that had taken place during the summer break. A coffee morning had been held to raise funds to provide 'goody' parcels for soldiers serving in Afghanisatan and Iraq, which from the responses received for parcels that had already been sent, had been much appreciated by them. She had a large number of items ready to send, but was having difficulty in sending them, as each parcel had to have an individual name; she asked if anyone could help with the latter.
An exhibition of the club's Awareness Project on the delicate issue of Female Genital Mutilation was exhibited at the Women In Wales Day held at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales, and following an excellent response and interest from visitors to the stand, a petition against this practice, which is a criminal offence in the UK, has been launched; and finally the annual outing which this year was to St. Fagan's had been, she said, a huge success, despite the appalling weather.
Programme Action officer Anne Kelly had prepared letters to go to schools with regard to the new club project on Slavery; these were approved by all members and would be sent out. She hoped that the schools involved would be visited with project packs before the half-term.
Letters were ready to be sent to MPs etc. on the issue of 'Pensioner Poverty' and she would need help with the addressing of envelopes.
President-elect Jenny and Judy Brew would be attending the Wales South Regional Council meeting and Judy would give the Programme Action report, and an update on the FGM work, as Wendy Bell and Karen Powell were giving a presentation on the latter in Cannock to the Midland Chase Region.
Social secretary Eiona Aston reported that a suggestion had been made for a trip to London using the Soroptimist Club as a base. She would look into it and also the possibility of a trip to Monet's Gardens in 2009.
The meeting closed with a reminder that at the October meeting, the speaker would be Mr. Sid Howells on 'Geology and the Environment'.