WOMEN S INSTITUTES
Ipstones WI Joy welcomed the members to our Annual General Meeting, and we were delighted to have three new members to join our committee. Our very welcome members were Pauline, Margaret and Jean. Since we had a large amount of business to get through the minutes of last month s meeting were left out for members to read during refreshment time. All the correspondence was included in our newsletter, but special mention was made of the 52 week Earth Day Challenge which will be discussed at a later date. There were some great suggestions made as to what we might get involved in. Our speaker for the May meeting will be Kelly Hubbard who will demonstrate Natural Skin Care Products and speak about the charity that the company Tropic promotes. Sheila Leeson and Jean Lowndes will provide refreshments at that meeting. Our President Joy gave her President s
address in which she described the way in which we had all coped with the problems of the past tumultuous years. She made special mention of our new members and her confidence that they may encourage some new ideas and initiatives. Joy thanked the committee for all their hard work and presented them with flowers. She thanked, a long-standing friend, Mel Smith, from Cheddleton WI, who had come along to help with the voting etc. Mel gave us a little insight into how her own institute had coped with Covid. The officers were elected, and Joy retained her position as president which she carries out brilliantly. The financial statement was read and duly proposed, seconded and accepted with a feeling of relief that we are still solvent. The raffle was won by First Rosie and Second Jeanne. The welcome and excellent wine and cheese refreshments were then brought out and enjoyed by all. Thank you our committee. Report by Joan Mitchell
SAMARITANS
A
training room at the Leek branch of Samaritans has been named after a longstanding volunteer.
The surprise dedication was revealed at a handover ceremony this Spring. The ceremony marked a change in leadership as director Vickie Whitelegg stepped down after three years in the role. Samaritans gathered at the Leek branch in Queen Street recently to bid farewell to Vickie and welcome new director Steve Williams. Vickie was presented with gifts, including dollars towards a forthcoming holiday in California. Long-serving Samaritan Judy McDuell who has trained more than 400 volunteers to support people in crisis, was surprised at the event when it was revealed the Leek branch training suite had been named after her. Judy has been a Samaritan in Leek for 37 years and has trained more than 440 people to support callers in crisis. She has previously served as director and in 2018 was recognised by HM The Queen with an invitation to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Judy said: It was lovely seeing everyone again a reminder of just how wonderful and selfless all Samaritans are. There s a whole team in Leek and across the country.
We give quite a lot of a night every week and support people all the way through. People think it s all misery, but when you feel you have helped somebody it s really rewarding. We can say we have saved lived and that s a privilege in itself. Now serving in a largely advisory capacity, Judy was invited to declare The Judy McDuell Training Room officially open. She said: It was an occasion to thank the retiring director and welcome the new director, so it was a great surprise when I was somehow the star of the evening. The wonderful thing was a beautiful golden plaque on the training room door. It was covered with a pair of little curtains that I had to draw I felt like the Queen! I feel so honoured I never thought I d have something named after me. To find out more about Samaritans, visit: Samaritans.org.
