Our Christmas Party, held at Manor Court in Sale, was a fun evening with plenty of great food and chat. Val was presented with the Soroptimist Rose by President Barbara. Val is moving away from Manchester and we will miss her very much; she has had a huge impact on the Club having taken on many roles including those of President and Programme Action Officer, as well as having been Regional President. Rose Marginson  

On 14th December members were among thousands who turned out in the freezing cold to march from the Pankhurst Centre to St Peter’s Square for the the unveiling of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue. The ceremony marked 100 years since some British women received the vote. Tea and cakes were enjoyed at the Clink Cafe in Chepstow Street afterwards.  

Rosemary hosted a buffet supper for members to meet Michelle from our Friendship Link Club – S I Fort-de-France Alizes Sud

  President Barbara and six members of our Club attended the Federation Conference in Liverpool – a most interesting and enjoyable event. Highlights for our Club were the Best Practice Award Economic Empowerment for our HEALMalawi project and member Sue Underwood becoming President of South Lancashire Region.    

In 2013 two secondary school teachers in London witnessed the multiple barriers facing girls in their classrooms – including pressure to conform to ideals, lack of confidence and a lack of professional role models,  Based on research showing that conversations and personal relationships could have a big impact on challenging stereotypes and expectations, they established a mentoring scheme.  The Girls’ Network was soon in high demand and now operates in London, Greater Manchester and across the south coast. Our Programme Action Officer, Val, spoke at our November meeting about her experiences as a mentor with the charity over the past year. She told members about the ideals of the charity, how the Club came to hear about it through a friend of President Barbara and deciding to volunteer. Val went on to talk about the training evening and the excitement of the matching event where

We were contacted by S I Freiburg about a group of girls from Chemnitz who wanted to visit the Pankhurst Centre around the 100th anniversary of some women obtaining the vote. They were given a tour by one of our members, Susan H. who is a volunteer at the centre, accompanied by several other members. Susan said ‘The group from Germany really enjoyed the Pankhurst Centre and thanked Rose for organising the visit and me for doing the talk and showing them round. They had great fun dressing up in Suffragette costumes and taking lots of photos. They were extremely nice people and have every intention of keeping in touch. They extended and open invitation to us to visit them in Chemnitz.

President Barbara attended the 80th anniversary celebrations of two of our daughter Clubs – Bolton and Stockport At Stockport Barbara took part in their ‘Pathways’ presentation which talked about the setting up and development of the Club over the years. She was delighted to learn that the Club came into being when a number of Stockport women met five Manchester Club members on 10th March 1938 and that the 19 women who signed the petition to start the Stockport Club included a costumier, a headmistress, a masseuse, a pharmacist and a milliner.       At Bolton’s celebration Barbara was asked to cut their beautiful cake alongside President Maureen and the Club’s youngest member, Jodie.  

Our annual Friendship Evening was held at Heald Green village Hall on 13th October. Members enjoyed food, friendship and fun as well as a ceremony in which candles were lit for our six Friendship Link clubs – Essen, Johannesburg, St Petersburg, Wichita, Grosse Pointe and Fort-de-France Alizes Sud.

Hannah Morowa, CEO of WomenMATTA, spoke at our October meeting. WomenMATTA is a charity which offers help and support to women coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Hannah explained that police custody suites can refer women when they are first arrested; workers visit women in prison and provide support to them on release. Support is available in finding appropriate accommodation, addressing physical and mental needs, benefits and debt issues and domestic abuse. This support not only results in lives turned around and a massive reduction in re-offending, but also saves a significant amount of public money. We were pleased to be able to donate over 100 bras.

A group of members visited Dunham Massey’s  Women and Power event which told the stories of the women (and men) who fought both for and against female suffrage.     They also heard about three women who have shaped Dunham’s history – Lady Mary Booth, the first and only woman to inherit and run the estate, Penelope Lady Stanford who made the decision to open the military hospital during the First World War and the longstanding housekeeper, Mrs Isabella Collins. Thanks to Sue H. for arranging a most interesting and enjoyable visit.