SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL, BECKENHAM & DISTRICT

"A Countryman's Year" was the topic for speaker Brian Doe at last month's meeting.

Brian has a nature reserve on the North Downs and he showed us some beautiful slides of fruits, berries, trees flowers, birds and animals through the four seasons. Member has fun trying to identify the species. Thanking him, President Peggy Duffin congratulated him on the quality of his photography. Brian sets up a hide to take shots of nesting birds and gradually draws nearer over two or three days.

Peggy reported on a visit to the Albert Hall recently made by members to take a look behind the scenes. They also found time to walk through Kensington Gardens to see the fountain in memory of Princess Diana.

At the business meeting Audrey Percival reported a donation of £200 to support pupils at a school in Tanzania in their exchange with Sydenham High School.

There were also reports on the recent Soroptimist International Conference on Peace and Tolerance, held in Bournemouth, which nine of our members, a quarter of our whole membership, attended.

Journalist and politician, Martin Bell, "the man in the white suit", was the keynote speaker. He is now UNICEF Special Representative on Humanitarian Emergencies and he drew on his experiences of covering many wars to urge the route of peace and conciliation in settling conflict around the world.

He gave examples of very difficult wars in Beirut and Angola, which had eventually been ended by the intervention of the United Nations. He was presented with a cheque for £33,500 collected by member clubs for the Uganda Tetanus Appeal.

The conference concluded with the change of insignia ceremony where incoming National President Janet Garnons Williams, from our own Region, the South East, took office.

Soroptimist International is a group for women in the professions and voluntary sector, meeting on the first and third Mondays at Beckenham Methodist Church, Bromley Road. If you are interested contact Christine Thomas on 020-8460-4368, or visit our new website www.soroptimist-gbi.org/clubs/beckenham_and_district