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.      

Gillian Frances Andrew 3 May 1946 to 19 November 2024 Jill was born in Croydon and initially trained as a teacher. But teaching was not enough of a challenge and after a year she went to teach in Ethiopia. She arrived there in a period of great civil unrest and had to leave after a year. She made her  way home via East Africa, cargo boat to Bombay via the Seychelles, through India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and into Turkey when time and money dictated a flight back to the UK.  On return she was able to get a job as a YHA Field Officer Shortly afterwards Jill married Rex. Jill said the YHA job wasn’t compatible with marriage so went back to teaching until she started her family. After her first son, David, was born the family moved to Leeds. Jill had 2 more

Heswall club’s association with Hoylake Cottage  has continued through the year with gardening, bingo sessions and quizzes with the residents. The last event of the year was carol singing which was enjoyed by Soroptimists and residents alike!