Citylife in Rugeley and Cannock Chase May June 2021

Cannock & District
Ladies Probus
By Alison Cardy
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Many social clubs are either folding or in abeyance until
lockdown restrictions are eased but meeting through Zoom.
In April, ladies from Cannock & District Probus Club met, to be
entertained by speaker Neil Weyham, giving an amusing
entertaining talk entitled Tales of a Carpet Cleaner (not quite
Confessions of a Window Cleaner but he spared our blushes!)
Neil relayed snippets from his many experiences with Chem-Dry
since he joined them in 1991. Explaining his background, as owner of
Chem-Dry, he also works on match days at West Bromwich Albion and
Aston Villa, a snooker coach, Steward at Edgbaston Cricket Club and
Magistrate at Birmingham’s Magistrates Court. However going back 43
years to 1978, joining Reckitt and Coleman, he regaled us with
memories of products of days gone by.
Redundant after 13 years, Neil next ventured into Chem-Dry and
shared amusing anecdotes. An unusual job was to clean two 2-seater
sofas, and whilst chatting Neil asked if they had been bought locally but
was told they were from London off the Set of Good Morning with
Holly and Phil so many celebrities had sat on them over the years!
Neil who, at 6ft 5 inches tall is known as the Jolly Clean Giant, was
thanked for his talk for which payment was donated to his chosen
charity of St Giles Hospice.
Should any retired or semi-retired professional or business ladies
wish to join Cannock & District Ladies Probus to share friendship,
particularly in these difficult times, the club normally meets on the first
Thursday of each month at The Chase Golf Club at 12 noon. New
members are always welcome. Annual membership is £16. Further
information can be obtained from Membership Secretary Barbara on
01889 882166 or Chairman Anne on 01922 418037.
New Businesses
Grants
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Cannock Chase Council has extended the range of businesses
who are eligible for its discretionary grant scheme known as
Additional Restrictions Grants (ARG).
It follows the Chancellor’s budget statement in March which promised
further support from April to those businesses continuing to be affected
by lockdown measures and means grants will become available to selfemployed
businesses from 30 April.
The Government has allocated £2.9m to the Council to be used at
the Council’s discretion to help local businesses severely restricted by
trading restrictions during the lockdown and for longer-term skills and
training initiatives in the District.
The new grants for self-employed people and small businesses
operating from home will be a one-off grant of £2,000 to businesses
who do not have commercial premises and have suffered a loss of
income of 30% or more due to the trading restrictions.
Full details can be found at www.cannockchasedc.gov.uk in
Coronavirus and Council Services on the homepage then `Business,
Employers and Employees`. This section has details of all support
available including ARG.
18
Cannock & District
Soroptimists
By Trish Mellor
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Amanda Milling MP at the meeting
SI Cannock & District marked International Women’s Day 2021 in
March by featuring 12 local women on their social media, their
website and by inviting them to a special evening conducted on
Zoom. The theme this year was #ChooseToChallenge – gender
equality.
These women have chosen to challenge stereotypes by going into
careers traditionally thought of as male roles. Cannock Soroptimists
approached a firefighter, prison officer, a Sky technician, a local councillor,
an MP, and CEOs of local organisations to ask them to share their
experiences, both positive and negative, of having a successful career in
what might be seen as mainly a man’s world. They also wanted to highlight
how working mothers have coped during the pandemic, juggling working
from home with home schooling, alongside running a home and all that
entails.
Seven of the women were able to accept the invitation to join the
meeting to mark International Women’s Day 2021 – the others were
working or at pre-arranged meetings. They were joined by Soroptimists
from other clubs in the Midland Chase area and from Port Talbot, Wales
and Harrisburg, USA: 41 in all!
The women were asked to say a little about ways they have handled
gender discrimination. They had all found different ways of doing this, but
the main theme that ran through their responses was that having
confidence in their abilities gave them the strength to carry on despite
some often major setbacks. They also found that proving those abilities
often meant that they received the respect they deserved from their male
colleagues.
They were also asked about what advice they would give to younger
women thinking of embarking on similar paths to theirs – it was a
resounding ‘Go for it!’ What was obvious with all of the answers our
women gave was the desire they had to ‘bring others with them’ on their
journey to achieving success in their chosen careers. They advised that the
ability to empathise with those they work with was key to a harmonious
working environment. Another feature of everyone’s answers was the
importance of role models whether that be family or school.
Before the meeting ended, everyone held a hand up high to show our
commitment to choose to challenge and call out inequality.
Cannock Soroptimists can be contacted by email
cannock.soroptimists@gmail.com, found on website
www.sigbi.org/cannock-and-district, or on Facebook
www.facebook.com/SICannock.