Sue Crump – President
Before moving to Southampton, Sue spent several years living abroad. Prior to that she was a Midwife and Paediatric Nurse, a career which she fitted in around her children and many house moves as a military wife. She enjoys all sorts of crafts, walking, travelling, and meeting new people.
Beccy Harnett – Secretary
Beccy works in eLearning managing an online learning site. In her spare time, she enjoys walking and being out and about in nature. She loves learning new skills crafting (mostly badly!) and reading so the Sotonettes is a perfect fit.
Hannah Morgan
Hannah enjoys trying lots of new things without being especially good at any of them! This is one of the reasons she enjoys the Sotonettes, there is always something new to learn and try! She works for a local community interest company and in a school while being a mum, and has a background as a youth worker.
Penny Hollowell – Book Club Lead
Penny spent her career in education in this country and abroad. She moved to Southampton fairly recently and has enjoyed getting to know all that the local area had to offer. She enjoys travelling and cycling and still teaches young children when holidays and family commitments allow.
Jen Thomson –
Jen enjoys reading and crafting small knitting projects when she has some spare time away from DIY and more commonly, working as an air traffic controller (it pays for all the new things she seems to need). Before looking after the planes in the sky, Jen was a PhD student in Chemistry at the University of St Andrews.
Odette Jacobs – Vice President and Meeting Manager
Odette is a primary school teacher trying to survive living with toddlers and a grumpy cat. Addicted to Pinterest, she really wants a dog and to finish a craft project one day.
Anne Jones
Before retiring Anne was an assessor of the learning needs for students with disabilities studying in higher education. Prior to that, she worked in education, the police and administration. At one point, Anne also had a very small side line going in writing quizzes. Then the magazine went bust! Since retiring, Anne is able to spend many happy hours, usually each day, engaged in my great love of writing.
Jenny Bisset
Jenny has had a career in education as a primary school teacher and in adult education. She is also a qualified dog groomer which is just as well as she is mad about her dog Bertie! She enjoys art and craft, and frequently goes on courses to learn new skills. During her free time she swims, dog walks and travels particularly abroad.
Georgina Board
Georgina is a retired nurse who enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and meeting friends for coffee or lunch. She likes reading, holidays and supports her husband socialising and training Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.
Michelle Sullivan
Michelle likes crafting, Christmas and Formula 1, especially if she can combine them (Christmas crafting while watching a race!). She works as a business analyst in the NHS and looks forward to the time when working doesn’t get in the way of all the leisure activities she’s sure she could fill her time with.
Past Sotonettes Presidents:
2017- 21 Jen Thomson
2014-17 Katrina Kemp
2013-14 Hannah Farmer
2012-13 Emma Jefferies
The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) lets each WI have individual control of some rules and regulations that govern the operation of a WI. At our 2022 Annual Meeting, our members voted to keep this decision for the Sotonettes WI:
“An individual may hold one of the four officer roles (President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) for no longer than three years. After this time, the individual should relinquish this position. This decision does not prohibit the individual from standing for a different office or acting as a general committee member if they wish to continue on the Sotonettes WI committee.”