Inspiring brighter futures. Meadowside School  is a small school and a specialist provider of education for pupils aged 11 to 19 with complex learning difficulties, communication and/or sensory needs, autism, ADHD and varying health conditions. It is well established within the community and its learners and staff are highly motivated and work hard together. The school ethos is to promote a safe, happy, fun, and caring learning environment, with a willingness to try hard and achieve. Within this framework members of SI Heswall have been pleased to contribute a sensory rainbow panel made up up of numerous rainbow coloured woollen pom poms.  

Parkinson’s UK (www.parkinsons.org.uk) was founded in 1969 and the Wirral group began in 1993. Wirral branch Chairman Ken Fraser and colleagues Georgie and Paul recently spoke to club members about living with Parkinson’s and how by recognising it and adapting they are able to continue with their busy and fulfilled lives. Members learned a great deal about Parkinson’s and its impact on daily living from them. The society is here for everyone affected by Parkinson’s and it is fighting for fair treatment and better services. Its aim to find a cure and improve life for people with Parkinson’s is focusing on accelerating breakthroughs in research, better support and every day getting Parkinson’s better understood.

  The first meeting of the new Soroptimist year marked membership month with a warm welcome to members old and new. As we move towards meeting in person President Jenny introduced two new members on zoom. We look forward to resuming meetings in June at our new venue, Heswall Hall.

The Soroptimist International Club of Heswall & District has plenty to celebrate after new Presidents Cynthia Duggan and Jenny Wilson were elected at their recent virtual AGM for 2021. The club is also celebrating an exciting new venue for their meetings with a return to Heswall at Heswall Hall.  The new Presidents are looking forward to resuming their twice monthly meetings as soon as Government guidelines allow.  Their chosen charities this year are Tomorrow’s Women Wirral (tomorrowswomen.org.uk), a centre looking after the welfare of women, Parkinson’s UK (www.parkinsons.org.uk) and Health Help International (hhi.org.uk), an organisation providing medical equipment in Zambia and India.   With our return to Heswall, it brings to mind our inaugural meeting held in November 1948 at the Spinning Wheel Café, 78 Telegraph Road.  Proprietor, Mrs Astin, was elected founder member and the annual subscription was 2 guineas. The Insignia was designed around

The Presidents’ charities for 2020/21 have been the Wirral Fund for Children with Special Needs (WFCSN) and Action with Young Carers Wirral. It has not been an easy year to fundraise, for club members and also for these local charities. Lockdown has placed restrictions on all of us and we have had to be inventive with fund raising ideas and efforts. Nevertheless, club members raised £2231.55 which has been split evenly between these two charities.   At the close of their year Presidents Pam and Ann were able to hand cheques to representatives of both charities. Recently they met with Sandra Morris, the Chairperson of the Wirral Fund for Children with Special Needs (WFCSN), to give the charity a cheque from Heswall Soroptimists. A second visit was to the Lauries in Birkenhead to hand over a cheque to Paula Hulme, the Manager of Action with

In this centenary of Soroptimists, (1921-2021), SIGBI members are focused on ‘Planting trees for a Brilliant Future’ to mark the anniversary and to help the environment. At the end of their year as Heswall club’s presidents Ann and Pam have recently donated fruit trees to Dale Farm in Heswall. They chose cherry and pear trees which will add to the range of fruit already grown at the farm. Dale Farm provides a day service for adults with disabilities and support for adults with mental health needs. The service provides opportunities to learn life skills through the therapeutic use of horticulture. Day to day activities include planting and growing organic fruit and vegetables in the fields and poly-tunnels. The farm shop sells Dale Farm’s own fruit and vegetables and award-winning honey from the on-site apiary. There is a small café too. Dale Farm is in partnership with

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated all around the world on 8th March. The United Nations first celebrated International Women’s Day in 1975, but its roots were developing from the turn of the century. It is now supported globally by governments and non-governmental organisations, for profit and non-profit organisations, professional and community groups, women’s networks and the media. It is an opportunity to celebrate how far women have reached in terms of equality, and to initiate action to gain gender parity. The IWD 2021 campaign theme is #ChooseToChallenge with its upheld hand at shoulder level which challenges gender inequity. Heswall members are marking the day and contributing to a media display by Tomorrow’s Women Wirral. At  the recent club meeting members showed their support by raising their hands in a screenshot.

Story bags for local schools have featured in Heswall club’s activities in recent years. Over recent months it has been a successful project for remote working and another set of story bags has been made by four teams of members.  Each group kept in touch by zoom and phone and enjoyed the social aspect of the project – at distance! The bags featured books by Julia Donaldson and were What the Ladybird Heard, Room on the Broom, Tiddler and The Gruffalo. The bags were made for Stanley School and Pensby Primary School.          

Christmas gifts were collected for the residents of the Refuge (www.wwaca.org) and this year included toiletries and gift vouchers. They will be delivered, with best wishes, in time for Christmas.