Once again Heswall Soroptimists have joined the residents of Hoylake Cottage in festive spirit to sing Christmas carols and share mince pies and mulled wine. Members have been involved with Eka and the residents throughout the year with gardening, quizzes and reading with the residents and this was an enjoyable time to close the year and wish the residents Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
The International Evening is a regular event in the club’s programme and is held near to 10 December which is Human Rights Day. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the newly established United Nations on 10 December 1948. The Declaration outlines thirty rights and freedoms that belong to everyone and is still a living document forming the basis of international human rights law. The evening opened with a reading from a speech by Eleanor Roosevelt who was chair of the committee tasked with drafting the Declaration. Club members recognised the role of SIGBI globally by lighting candles to represent each of the five Federations. Candles were also lit to recognise the United Nations and friendship.To continue the international theme guest speaker, Jess McNeill, spoke of her time volunteering in Tanzania with a project building a school. This experience and her science
16 Days of Activism is marked annually 25th November – 10th December to promote awareness of the issue of violence against women and girls. Over the past year Heswall members have continued to work with local supermarkets to hold information points and displays. The focus for the SIGBI 2025 campaign is preventing online violence and creating safer online spaces by promoting key strategies for prevention — including raising awareness of how online abuse happens, sharing tools for digital safety and support, and encouraging actions that help create safer, more respectful online spaces.
Once again the club’s October meeting focused on breast cancer awareness and members wore pink to follow the theme. Not just one guest speaker but three were welcomed and spoke to the group. Linda Kendrick – Macmillan Cancer Support, Emily Burke – Specialist Breast Care Nurse, and Julia Rimmer – Clinical Nurse Specialist explained their roles in both the nursing and supportive roles with patients coping with breast cancer. They explained the importance of self awareness and checking for signs of breast cancer and also regular screening. There were numerous questions from the members and they responded with patience and humour!
The Club recently held its 76th Charter Dinner at Bromborough Golf Club. Members and guests from across the region were welcomed by Jenny and enjoyed an evening of meeting up with good company and conversation. Colin Schroeder was the guest speaker and he shared his great interest and knowledge about Wirral and its history with his talk ‘ Wirral Women and Wings’. This year’s Regional President, Kathy, with speaker Colin and Geoff. Two past Regional Presidents, Louise and Heswall member Stella.
The SIGBI Day of Action was on 12th July and coincided with the UN International Day of Hope which is described by the UN as ‘a day to celebrate and promote hope as a guiding principle for individuals, communities, and nations alike.’ Members across SIGBI were asked about their hopes for the future. Heswall members discussed this and concluded that they hope that children of future generations will be well fed and literate to give them a good basis for their own development. Building on this over 60 children’s books were collected and delivered to the Neo community in Rock Ferry for distribution. A collection of food items totalling 42kg were collected and delivered to the Foodbank together with donations of £398.
The latest story bag for Meadowside School is ‘Giraffes can’t Dance’ which introduces the reader to a large number of animals. Hand knitted versions of all of them were featured in the story bag thanks to the great patience and skill of Stella and members. The toys were especially popular with the children as they heard the story. With thanks to the staff at Meadowside School for the pictures of the children.
There was an extra guest at the speaker meeting in May when Polly brought her assistance dog, Grace. Polly introduced Gaynor Cavanagh who talked about Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. A planned short talk proved very interesting, prompted many questions and an hour passed before anyone noticed. Gaynor spoke about the work of the charity and the difference a hearing dog can make for a deaf person. She explained the training which the dogs undergo from the early days basic training through to the their specialised training with their deaf partner. Grace has completed her training and Polly and Grace continue to work with charity.
SI Heswall was well represented at Cool Heswall’s recent event in Hillhouse Gardens. Held annually local environmental groups, eco-organisations and businesses gathered to raise awareness of climate change and our environment and its needs. Members of SI Heswall enjoyed meeting members of the public to talk about Soroptimism and the club’s project making story bags for local schools.
The first International Women’s Day event was held in 1911. It quickly gained global recognition and is marked on 8th March. International Women’s Day (IWD) was marked for the first time by the United Nations in 1975. This year Heswall members joined Tomorrow’s Women Wirral to share their celebration of International Women’s Day. They joined in a discussion session “Accelerate Action”, to share thoughts on how women need to maintain action/activities to ensure their voices will be heard and changes will/can be made. A second activity in Heswall celebrated and promoted IWD and also highlighted violence against women. Members ran an information table at Tesco and received donations for The Lighthouse Centre. They also walked through the centre of Heswall with posters highlighting Women’s Day and Soroptimism.
