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Murder Mystery evening January 2020
Murder Mystery evening

Heswall Soroptimists held a Murder Mystery evening which was written by Glenys Hunt. Members and soroptimisters made up the cast. The aim of the evening was threefold.

  1. To celebrate our 70th anniversary – it was set at a pre-Charter dinner in 1949
  2. To promote Soroptimism in the hope of recruiting new members – part of the script included details of the aims and values of Soroptimism
  3. To give our members a fun social evening

The whole evening went very well, with all the audience getting involved. Over 90 people attended. All three aims were met, although we haven’t had any new recruits as yet. In addition, although fundraising wasn’t one of the primary aims, we did manage to raise £840. Thank you to all involved – cast, members who organised and prepared the room and food, and the audience for their enthusiasm.

History tour  of the Leverhulme Hotel in Port Sunlight

The Leverhulme Hotel opened in 1907 as a cottage hospital for the village of Port Sunlight It has been a hotel since 2008 and now offers tours to hear about its history.

A group of Heswall members enjoyed a fascinating look around the building and heard about its past followed by afternoon tea.

Neston Town Trail

Neston has a wealth of historic and unusual buildings and the Neston Civic Society has produced a guide to some of the most interesting ones. A group of SI Heswall members enjoyed a summer evening walk following the Neston Town Trail and discovering some unknown parts of Neston!

A meal at a local restaurant gave everyone chance to chat and catch up on news.

Visit to Chester Castle

A group of SI Heswall members visited Chester and heard about the history of Deva, the Roman city, on a guided tour.  The pictures show the remains of Roman pillars in the basement of one of the shops and members enjoying a meal together after the tour.

Strawberry Tea

A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, SI Heswall and District enjoyed a Strawberry Tea event in the garden of member Pam Dowell. Funds raised will go to the Presidents’ Charities.

Llangollen International Eisteddfod

Once again Heswall members went to the Eisteddfod and were part of the Soroptimist team at the SI hospitality tent. This year the Region sponsored a choir from Warsaw in Poland – Alla Polacca. The choir members enjoyed taking part and their stay in Llangollen. Congratulations to them on third place in the folk song competition.

Charity Shop

 

 

SI Heswall had a busy week running a pop up charity shop in Liscard. Members are shown here setting up for business. Many thanks to all our customers who have helped raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Society  (alzheimers.org.uk) and Wirral Young Carers.

Lighthouse Centre

 

Following on from the SIGBI Domestic Abuse Project, some members felt there could be a lack of IDVA in courts/communities. IDVA (independent domestic violence advisers) are advisers who address the safety of victims who are at high risk of harm, such as from partners or family members, and secure their safety and the safety of the children. There is a patchy presence who link with Local Authorities and other support services. So, what support can we offer as a club? A club member, Pat, contacted a local IDVA, who gave Pat information on ‘Involve Northwest’, based in Rock Ferry, offering a wide range of services to improve family life.  Within the community hub is the “Lighthouse Centre”, which takes over when the IDVA deems the situation is no longer an emergency. 6 club members were invited to a team meeting at the Lighthouse Centre. The IDVA, one of 8 on Wirral, explained how IDVA’s worked within the community, and the different rules relating to Crown, Magistrate and Family courts. It is costly going to court, so the IDVA can support the victim by offering other options. If the victim attends court, then the IDVA can attend with them to give support, but has to sit in the public gallery. The IDVA works with family services, social service, drug counsellors and sometimes the Police.

We met one of WBC  family support, who works closely with the IDVA’s.  We were shown around the centre, which is also used by other charities, such as Leap Frog and Clear Minds. A wonderful place for domestic victims and their children to go to in a time of need. Soroptimists can help by raising awareness of the centre and perhaps volunteer in the centre. Sadly, the centre is only funded until April 2023, so they need thousands of pounds to continue from April. Perhaps a club member has links with a large organisation who may offer help or a wealthy individual. The Hub has already applied to the Council and Lottery funding.

A LIGHTHOUSE DOES NOT GO OUT AND RESCUE SHIPS, IT STANDS SHINING AND GUIDES THEM THROUGH THE STORM

The Lighthouse Centre provides a safe, warm and friendly place for victims of Domestic abuse to go for help and for IDVA and family counsellors to meet their clients.

The centre has been risk assessed by MARCA and is a fully operational centre providing support for women and children who need help and who have been affected by domestic violence.

 The “Involve Northwest Community Centre” received Government funding in 2019 from the Culture & social media dept and also the Steve Morgan Society, but this will run out in April 2023.

Tomorrow’s Women Wirral

Tomorrow’s Women Wirral (TWW) was launched in September 2011 and SI Heswall has been involved with the project since then. Due to the success of the project TWW moved into independent accommodation in April 2012 and became a charity in September 2012.

Tomorrow’s Women Wirral (TWW) is a project designed to benefit all women aged 18+ in the community and is committed to reducing female imprisonment, offending, and to provide assistance to those women who want to make positive lifestyle changes.

The women who attend TWW are not judged and integrate with women who want to share their own skills and experiences. TWW is open Monday – Friday (9.00am to 3:30pm with late night opening on a Tuesday evening until 6:30pm) and has a full timetable of courses that address women’s needs.

Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company is based within TWW offering all women the opportunity to access support from over 175 Wirral Agencies. TWW offers space in a safe women-only environment so partner agencies can work with women, some of whom may not have accessed services previously. Partners include Wirral Met College, CWP NHS, Alcohol and Drug Services, Counselling Services, Solicitors, Police etc.

Tomorrow’s Women Wirral releases a monthly timetable with targeted interventions and specific activities to support and prevent women from getting into difficulties in their lives. TWW is able to provide a series of targeted interventions that are tailored to the individual woman through a multi-agency, problem-solving approach.

Tomorrow’s Women Wirral works to the principles outlined within The Corston Report produced in 2007.

Download Corston Report here.

In its newest project TWW is filling a gap in provision for young women aged 14 – 17. From within this project – Tomorrow’s Young Women – young women can access provisions, interventions and activities too.


Action with Young Carers Wirral works with young carers who are children or young people under 18 caring for an adult family member in need of support because of a long-term illness or disability.  These can include physical illness or disability, mental health problems and drug or alcohol problems and may not be apparent. The care these young people give would normally be done by an adult and is invaluable support to their family member. Girls and boys in a caring role do not see themselves as carers and are not recognised as such by other people like friends and teachers and yet they play a major part in family situations.

Young carers help in many ways from shopping and housework to helping with medications, correspondence and hospital appointments. They carry responsibilities beyond their years and this can affect their school/college work and time to spend with their friends.

Action with Young Carers Wirral reaches out these stalwart young people and offers help and support in many ways. Its team members are ready to listen and understand the situations the carers find themselves in. They can provide information and get help and advice about the illness or disability of the family member being helped. They will speak out for the young carers and throughout the year arrange for some social time and a chance for them to meet up with others in similar circumstances.

Tomorrow’s Women Wirral

 

Wirral Fund for Children with Special Needs

For over 30 years the Wirral Fund for Children with Special Needs has worked to improve the daily lives of local children.

Through donations and local fundraising activities the Fund makes grants for items that are not covered by NHS and Social Services budgets and are particular to individual children.

Applications for grants are made by health, education and care professionals who understand the needs of each child. With this knowledge applications are assessed and approved where the funding will be used fairly and appropriately to help disability-specific situations.

Funded items vary great and recently have included specialist car seats and harnesses, communication aids and computer software, sensory toys and adapted trikes.

 

Heswall – a Toilet Twinned Town

Toilet twinning certificate with Mayor February 2020Heswall and District Soroptimists announced the success of their campaign to make Heswall a Toilet Twinned Town. This is achieved when at least 20 organisations agree to purchase a toilet, including businesses, community groups, schools and public buildings. To mark the occasion the Mayor and Mayoress, Tony and Barbara Smith, invited Joint Club Presidents Glenys Hunt and Sue Donovan, with some of the club members to Wallasey Town Hall. After the certificate presentation the Mayor was given a twinned toilet. He praised the club members for their achievement, “Congratulations to you all for the efforts you have made for this very worthwhile cause. And thank you for the donation of a toilet, I will see that it is placed appropriately in the Town Hall.”

1 in 4 people around the world do not have access to a toilet. Toilet twinning raises funds to enable impoverished people to have clean water, basic sanitation, and learn about hygiene education – a vital combination that helps end poverty. The donor gives £60 to purchase a toilet and will receive a framed certificate and photograph to display on the wall of their own toilet, with GPS coordinates so they can look up their twin’s location.

President Glenys said “The aim of Soroptimist International is to enable women and girls worldwide to achieve their full potential, providing them with basic hygiene and sanitation will work towards this goal. Toilets are especially important for women and girls to help improve their health, safety and dignity. They are the ones most affected by the lack of privacy in going to the toilet.”

President Sue acknowledged the community involvement, “We would like to thank all the businesses, organisations and individuals in Heswall who contributed to our campaign”.

In addition to making Heswall a toilet-twinned town we managed to achieve our aim of twinning 70 toilets in total for the year, to celebrate our 70th anniversary. Our fundraising covered a variety of events, and persuasive tactics.  One of the most unusual was having a toilet shaped cake made for our 70th celebrations – it certainly attracted a lot of attention. Further information about toilet twinning is available at https://www.toilettwinning.org