As District Chairman, I am mindful of the responsibility of taking over the role of representing District 11 members and doing what I can to keep the district going while, at the same time, our membership is declining. With Gillingham having closed in June, we now have 18 clubs in 2023-24 and fewer members than last year.
While I think it is important for us to recruit, if we can, I also think that the district should do as much as possible to support clubs so that members can continue to benefit from the friendship and help which club membership offers, as well as getting satisfaction from doing whatever service that they are able to within their communities and in supporting international efforts to sustain people less fortunate that ourselves.

I will finish off by saying that I am looking forward to visiting your clubs, meeting and hearing from you about your activities, your thoughts about the district and how best it can support your club and members.

The charity I have chosen for my year is Stop Domestic Violence (SDV). I have selected this charity because I know from my work in the Probation Service over 40 years that domestic abuse is a significant problem in our society (and indeed, in many others). Domestic abuse is a one-off act or pattern of acts which aims to control, coerce, degrade or threaten a person in a relationship. It can involve physical, sexual, financial, psychological or emotional abuse and include online or digital behaviours and harassment and stalking. Stop Domestic Violence has services to support adult victims (more often women than men) and children affected by domestic abuse throughout Hampshire. The services now include Refuges for women in centres across the county and for safety reasons, may be used by women from surrounding counties. Their CEO, Claire Lambon will be attending my installation to talk about SDV. I hope that you will feel able to support this worthwhile charity.

My Charity for this coming year is School in a Bag. As a retired teacher, education is very close to my heart. It also fits in with the IIW 3-year project ‘Strong women – stronger world’. It is estimated that 262 million children are denied access to education around the world. How many of them are girls? The charity has made a lot of changes since we last supported this charity. They have expanded their operations but also looked at environmental changes with their bags. You will be hearing more about them at the International Rally on 8^th November.

For more information about District 11 or any of our clubs please contact –

District Chairman – Monica Dillon
Senior Vice Chairman – Jenny Lewis
Immediate Past Chairman – Helen Twitchen
District Secretary – Mary Fenn
District Treasurer – Jenny Lewis
Member of Council – Brenda Cains
International Service Chairman – Susan Parson
Membership & Development – Jocelyn Dorey
District Editor – Helen Twitchen
Health & Safety – Helen Twitchen

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