Each wearing orange, six members of SI Bristol caught the train to Weston-super- Mare.
On the journey from Worle Councillor Wendy Griggs, Chairman of North Somerset Council, spotted our banners and introduced herself. She remained with us until we joined the rest of the Soroptimists and others outside the station. Where she met up with the Mayor of Weston super Mare for the March.
We marched through the shopping area, handing out bookmarks, to Grove Park
where we tied ribbons on the railings round the pond. Each of the 110 ribbons represented a death from domestic violence over a year. Other Soroptimists joined us there and there were seven from SI Bristol in total.
From there we gathered at the bandstand for speeches about domestic violence and the importance of eliminating it. Two statistics stand out: only one quarter of instances are reported; and 20% of all crimes reported are domestic abuse. The amount of the police budget allocated to domestic abuse is nowhere close to 20% of the budget. It was good to see so many men supporting us.
From there we walked to the memorial garden to gather round the replacement sculpture (the first one was vandalised) for poems, etc., to remember the victims.Bristol Soroptimists joined Weston super Mare Soroptimists for lunch before we caught our train home.