Club News
It is my pleasure to present the Chairlady’s Annual Report for the past year. Thank you to all of you who have taken time to attend the meeting and for your continued support and commitment to the club.
OVERVIEW OF THE PAST YEAR
Committee:
Last year was an extremely busy year and I am most grateful for all the support and help I received from the Committee. Our committee consists of 10 members. They have been amazing, each with their own area of expertise, talents and creativity together we have weathered the storms, laughed a lot and had amazing fellowship. At one of our committee workshops, I dashed into the task (without listening to the instructions carefully) and I heard one of the team say “Never let Jill lose with a pair of scissors at a workshop”!!
Achievements:
The Church supplied us with a panic button for our safety. Here I would like to thank Andries for all his help and support throughout the year. Eric also needs to be thanked for putting out and packing away the tables each week.
POPI Act – All members’ POPI Act forms are up to date and we are now compliant with the Government’s requirements.
ICE – In Case Of Emergency records are now up to date.
Crochet, knitting and sewing patterns for Charity items are now in the cloud for everyone to access.
We updated the Committee Members Portfolio duties and amalgamated the rules and information for new members into one document.
Proposed changes to the Constitution were worked on and these will be put forward later in the meeting.
Megan is busy building a website for the Club, as well as managing the Facebook page.
We also were kept busy with the major events of the year, as well as the general running of the Club.
The year was not all plain sailing. Several issues occurred which were not easy to navigate. Unfortunately I could not please everyone. I tried to handle these issues as sensitively as possible, taking everyone’s input into consideration. Thank you to everyone who helped and supported me in navigating these issues.
Thank you to the Committee for all their hard work, support and enthusiasm this past year. Without you amazing ladies I would not have managed. The teamwork was fantastic, with each member using their strengths and talents which led to a very successful year.
Highlights of the Year:
Membership Report:
It was one of my aims at the beginning of my year to increase our membership. I am glad to report that we gained 14 new members. We have unfortunately lost 3 members due to personal reasons and other commitments. We now have a membership of 78, of whom 63 members are paid up at this stage.
It was with great sadness that 3 of our members passed away this year: Gill Raine, Barbara O’Brien and Judy MacNichol.
We re-introduced ‘Members News’ and this has kept everyone in the loop about who has just become a Granny or Great Granny, who is ill, who has had a wonderful holiday etc. This has brought people together and brought a caring aspect to the club. Thank you to members who visited sick members and took them cards and all who kept in touch with them, during hard times.
Birthday cards were handed out each week. These cards have all been beautifully made by Carole Bonorchis. Carole has also overseen the monthly sales table and the sale room at the exhibition, which she ran for 20 years. Carole we are going to miss you. (round of applause)
We are also in the process of getting every member to make a personalized sampler for our Club Banners.
Attendance:
The attendance has generally been very good. One day we had 55 members and 5 visitors attending. Attendance figures have not been this high in a while. I have enjoyed the buzz at meetings and the fellowship that goes with it.
Fun Activities:
We also had fun at our meetings by having a Knitting Competition, Beatle Drive, The Last Person Standing Was A Winner and Guess the Object.
Workshops and Lessons:
One of my aims for the year was to bring a balance between Crafts and Charity. This was given a good start by adding Down Memory Lane items for the 40th Birthday Celebration. The “Crafts in Action” at the Exhibition went down very well showcasing to the public the wonderful crafting skills of our members. And alongside this were the amazing range of lessons, which inspired members to try new crafts.
This year our workshops and lessons have mainly revolved around major events on our calendar.
Making little take home gifts for the members and lots of décor – mainly making fish, octopus, big bottle-top sea-related pictures, a yellow submarine and many more nautical items.
Lillian Birch gave a lesson on woodburning.
Andrew Putter on how to mix paints.
Maureen Aukland, a past member now living in the UK, taught a lesson on making a semi-circular skirt.
Thank you to all the members who came forward to offer to teach lessons and a very big thank you must go to Sharon Browell for organizing such an amazing range of lessons this year.
Guest Speakers:
Jeanette, standing in for Gail Franciscus, from Sugarberry Trading talked about their paper crafting lessons.
Cally Geldenhuis brought beautiful items made by the women in Jordan and gave a talk on Life as an Ambassador’s Wife in Jordan.
Dylan and Tammy from Cope with Hope came and told us about their work in Die Gaatjie settlement.
Maria from Mamas Wool and Habby brought samples of the beautiful new wools that they have in stock.
Zerina, an OT with CPOA, who works in Lotus River.
In May, Bernadette from Simply B came to talk about Flow Art and to show us some beautiful samples of what can be done.
Outside Activities:
Flow Art lessons. After her talk many members went and took lessons.
Ingrid and I attended the Fish Hoek Handcraft Club’s Christmas function.
Charities:
Over the past 3 years Sharon Lok has done an amazing job with the charities. Collecting all the donations, sorting them, distributing them and finding out the needs of the various recipients. I have some facts and figures that I received from Sharon:
Charity donations 2025
During 2025 we collected a total of 3228 beautiful handmade items from club members. These included beanies, baby jackets, children’s jerseys, blankets – knitted and quilted, toys, teddy bears for Red Cross Hospital, angel blankets, bootees, quilts, washcloths and bags.
The items were distributed monthly to three main charities that we support, namely:
* Thulababa * Khayelitsha Hospital * Victoria Hospital.
Every year we donate 65-70 teddies and trachea bags to Red Cross Hospital for their
Breatheasy programme.
During the year we also donated to other causes and these included:
Quilted angel blankets to the Sweetpea organization / False Bay Hospital through Mary Puttick.
Knitted angel blankets to various charities through Wendy Meijer.
Lotus River Old Age Home received fiddle blankets and 130 adult beanies.
Cope with Hope, who serve Die Gaatjie in Diep River, received beanies.
Animal Rescue – beanies.
Glenbridge Home – beanies.
Our Father’s House – beanies (Wendy Meijer).
Thank you to all the ladies that contribute towards our charities – for their kindness, beautiful handwork and generosity. Sharon has also bought special-offer wool for our members to use to make articles for the charities and I am sure there was a lot more going on behind the scenes that I was not even aware of. Sharon is stepping down from this position and Almarie Kline will take over from her. Thank you Sharon for your hours of work. (round of applause)
In July we had Mandela Month and we collected nonperishable food items for the Wynberg Shelter. Thank you to Megan for delivering the goods to them.
Many of our decorations from the Exhibition went to Charity and to schools.
Coffee bottles and candles go to the Life Centre at the Red Cross Hospital.
Another person, who quietly and beautifully puts together the strips knitted at the club and those others brought in, is Edith. Thank you so much Edith for tirelessly working on these much-needed blankets.
Fund Raising:
Challenges:
We had a number of Challenges, namely:
Financial Overview:
The Club’s finances have been in Maria’s very capable hands. She has been most thorough in every aspect of her portfolio. The outside auditor, who checked the books, was most complementary about how well the books were presented. Thank you Maria.
Support and Thanks:
I would like to sincerely thank:
Your efforts were truly appreciated.
Closing Remarks:
We have had a very full and fruitful year.
Thank you.