On September 8th, 5 members of Bangor Soroptimists went to the end of 6Festival at Portmeirion and were able to collect 5 boxes of food, 23 tents, 8 sleeping bags, 4 fleecy blankets, 2 bedrolls, a groundsheet and many tent pegs, all of which were taken to Bangor’s Homeless Hostel on Love Lane, where they were received with great enthusiasm. 8 airbeds and 3 folding chairs were taken to the North Wales Housing Association on Dean St and received with thanks. This really was a day of fun and friendship which also helped our community.

On June 3rd members of SI Bangor brought along all their unwanted bras and deposited them in the BCR bras bank.  The bras collected will be recycled by BCR and sent to Africa,  where bras remain too expensive to produce.  They are sold on which helps small businesses in the developing countries.  BCR then donate £1000 for every tonne of bras collected (9000 bras) to “Against Breast Cancer” for their dedicated research to improve the detection and survival of breast cancer, based at the University of Westminster, London.  Mrs. Yi Jones has a ‘bra box’ in her Nail bar business in Upper Bangor and would welcome any good quality bras to donate to the charity.

A group of  20 members and friends boarded a bus at Llanfair PG Car Park on Saturday 28th June for Port Sunlight.  Despite the damp weather we had a lovely day visiting this beautiful village which William Lever originally built as a home for his workers at the nearby Lever factory at the end of the 19th century.  Lord Lever also established the Lady Lever Art Gallery to enrich the cultural and educational aspects of the lives of his workforce and the public at large.   The Heritage Centre is also worth a visit.  A stop at a Garden Centre en route home was brilliant too!  An excellent day out – thank you Sian for organising it!

Members of SI Bangor & District, together with visiting club members enjoyed their 66th Charter Luncheon at Seiont Manor, Llanrug on Sunday 22nd June.   A very warm welcome was extended to our guests by President Sian. Our guest speaker was Mr.  Ron Pace from the RNLI at Moelfre who kept us entertained with his seafaring stories.  

SI Bangor present a cheque for £500 to Mary of Treborth Riding for Disabled.  Mary was delighted to receive the money to help pay the running costs such as feed for the horses,shoeing and insurance.  This allows them to concentrate on building self esteem for those who come to ride.

On May 31st 2014, SI Bangor members prepared for a coffee morning organised to raise money for the RNLI. Tables were laden with items for the tombola, bric-a-brac, book sale, not forgetting the scrumptious cakes on for sale that soon disappeared!

CONGRATULATIONS Sian!  – You raised over £600.00 for breast cancer in memory of Jan Turner. Finally, after weeks of training walking the local cycle routes, Sian caught the train down to London on May 10th to take part in the London  Moonwalk. Unfortunately, Sheena, who should have been walking with her, had broken a bone in her foot and could not go. Sian’s son met her at Euston and together they made their way to Clapham which had been taken over by ladies wearing pink or white hats and good trainers. At 9.30 pm they made their way to Moonwalk city, a fenced area with a large PINK marquee. Here Sian said goodbye to her son and joined the 17,000 women and men preparing for THE Walk.  She set off just after midnight, into the very strong, cold winds. Although joined by women scantily dressed in decorated bras and

Our Friendship evening on 4th March had a Welsh theme for St David’s Day and we had a Fairtrade raffle for Fairtrade fortnight which raised £74. We were also lucky as Vicky had donated two voucher prizes for Debenhams from her ‘winnings’ at the conference in Gateshead. Sian did her Scattergory best and it was great fun!

On 1st Oct we had an informal evening with an International Theme to which guests were warmly invited. Gudrun gave a very interesting, thought provoking talk on her visit to Liberia with the organisation Women for Africa. There were a lot of questions and discussion about the situation of women in this country. Delicious nibbles with an International flavour prepared by members were enjoyed by all. Afterwards Tony Foster gave a brief update on the work of the Zambian Itala Foundation and there was a raffle with Fairtrade prizes whose proceeds were donated to this education project. We made £77 which was great.

There were 27 members and guests who went to the outing at Pant Du Vineyard on July 2nd 2013 and, even though we had to imagine the view, everyone enjoyed the talk, the wine and the food. They promised to take any of us for the tour of the vineyard that we missed if we came to visit again when the weather was better. We were impressed with the passion in developing the business and also that the whole family was involved.