At the beginning of November SI Bangor helped with the setting up of a ‘pop-up’ charity shop in Bangor in aid of the North Wales Society for the Blind.  We manned the shop for nearly two weeks and a fantastic sum of £2,500 was raised for this worthwhile charity.  Thanks to all the members who donated clothing, gifts, etc and also to those who gave up their time and helped assist in the shop.

Bangor Soroptimists had a very interesting time visiting Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue at their base in Capel Curig on 20th September. OVMRO continues to be one of the busiest Mountain Rescue Teams in the country assisting the Police and Ambulance authorities with rough terrain search and rescue in Northern Snowdonia. Its members are on stand-by 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year; giving their time for free to assist fellow users of the great outdoors who have come to grief. President Olga was pleased to present them with a cheque for £2,500 to help them continue their valuable work.

We have had two very successful stalls selling clothing and gifts at Ysbyty Gwynedd recently raising £385 for our local charities.  Many thanks to all members who helped with the events  in July and September. We also presented a cheque to Ty Gobaith for £2,500 after some successful fund raising and on Friday October 7th we were in Marks and Spencers with a bucket collection for the North Wales Society for the Blind which raised £337.

Vanessa Field from Bangor was our guest speaker recently and her talk on Medical Alert Assistance Dogs was extremely fascinating.  Dogs are trained to help people with life-threatening health conditions, giving them greater independence and above all saving their lives on a daily basis. The dogs are taught to identify the odour changes that are associated with life-threatening medical events. Currently the majority of Medical Alert Assistance dogs work with people with diabetes. Medical Detection Dogs uses the amazing power of the dogs’ nose to detect human diseases.  Research is based on the dogs’ ability to detect minute odour traces created by diseases.  For further information on SI Bangor please contact our Secretary Vikki Williams – vikkijwilliams@gmail.com

A ‘Summer Supper’ was held at the home of Jenny Watkin Jones on 7th September in aid of Ogwen Mountain Rescue.  Members and friends enjoyed a delicious buffet and desserts prepared by Jenny, Vicki and Pam.  An evening of fun, friendship and a lot of laughter was enjoyed by everyone.  Many thanks Jenny, Vicki and Pam – we had a wonderful evening.

Each year our Region organise a hospitality tent for the International Eisteddfod held in Llangollen at the beginning of July in order to raise awareness of Soroptimist International and give support to the event. The first International Musical Eisteddfod was held in Llangollen in 1947. In the 70 years since then it has become one of the world’s great music festivals. It began as a way of healing worldwide wounds following the end of the Second World War. This year SI Cheshire, North Wales and Wirral raised funds to help sponsor the Aichurok folk group from Kyrgyzstan and many clubs from the area including Bangor volunteered in the tent during the four days.

A great time was had at Vicki’s Strawberry Tea on 2nd July and thankfully the weather was kind to us during the afternoon.  Many of our members helped with the event and we have received a cheque from Vicki for the sum of £1,820 to be donated to Ty Gobaith – Well done Vicki and her team!                                                   Also, thanks to Julie, we were able to setup a Pop up shop in Bangor and other members volunteered to raise over £420 for Ty Gobaith. Thank you to all the helpers.

SI Bangor enjoyed their Annual Luncheon at the Cricket Pavilion, Bangor on the 26th June. Our Regional President, Jean Pentecost, joined us and the guest speaker was Mark Roberts from the North Wales Society for the Blind. He was accompanied by his wife, Elaine, and guide dog, Kira.

A great time was had by all on our annual outing on 21 June – a Cruise on the Starida’s Island Princess from Beaumaris Pier to Puffin Island to see all the fantastic wildlife. Many thanks to Eirwen and Gwenda who provided a fabulous buffet and of course we all enjoyed a glass or two or three of Prosecco!  An amazing £465 was raised for our local charities.