The Grange Soroptimist Club was Chartered in 1954, when Grange was part of Lancashire, with SI Ulverston as its mother Club and Founder President Mrs. F.H. Brown. Meetings were held in the upstairs room at the Hazlemere Cafe where about 20 members attended. In common with other Clubs in the Region, hats and gloves were worn at these meetings.
For a time there were co-members which necessitated a move to a larger venue at the Netherwood Hotel. Since then both the Grange and Graythwaite Hotels have been used for meetings
The club continues to thrive and now meets in Cartmel Village Hall.
At the start, two business and two speaker meetings were held each month. Fund-raising was essential to pay for rent of rooms, payment to Central Office and especially for donations to various charities. The main fund raising was the annual Jumble Sale held in the Victoria Hall each New Year. This was always successful but times change and this has since been discontinued.
Over the years, fund-raising efforts have included Fashion Shows, coffee mornings, treasure hunts, walks, swimarathons, Chocolate Fairs and dances. On incorporation into Cumbria, a Lancashire Evening was held at the Netherwood Hotel with Lancashire food, clog and folk-dancing and photographs were shown in Lancashire Life in April 1974. Enjoying ourselves while raising funds is one of the pleasures of membership of Grange SI!
Initially donations to charity were mostly for local people. However, over the years, the focus has grown to encompass both national and international work and includes not only fund-raising but also direct service, lobbying and awareness raising activities. There is more detail about our work under the various headings and Club news.
For 60 years, Grange SI has been providing immense service to the local community and to projects throughout the world and remains eager to tackle issues of concern and provide aid where possible. Our individual voice maybe small but together we achieve a strong, global voice for women.
Many thanks to the late Ethel Ripley and Hilda Postlewaite for their help with the ‘about our club’ page.