Katie Bridge from Wood Street Mission was our speaker at the May meeting. The charity was founded in 1869 to provide the basic necessities of life – food, shelter and clothing – to alleviate the appalling levels of hunger, poverty and destitution which many in the slum areas of Manchester and Salford had to endure.         Today the charity’s projects encompass five areas – Family Basics Low income families are provided with the day to day essential items that every family need for their children – clothing, bedding ,towels, toys, baby equipment and toiletries. 2,545 children received help in 2024. Smart Start New school uniforms are provided to ensure that children from struggling families are not made to feel different from their classmates and can focus on their learning. Other school essentials such as winter coats, school bags, sports kit and stationery

Members were very pleased to receive this – On behalf of Soroptimist International, I am pleased to inform you that your Club’s outstanding project, “Sewing and Crafting with Manchester Women’s Aid” has been selected as an exemplary initiative and included in SI’s work on the International Day of Education. Please find attached a certificate in acknowledgment of this achievement. We encourage you to share this recognition with your Club members and community. Thank you once again for your continued commitment to the Soroptimist mission.

Fiona Spencer was elected President at our Annual General Meeting at Sale Conservative Club on 12th April which marked the start of our centenary celebrations.

Rose delivered Easter Eggs to The River for the families they support and raffle prizes for the fundraising musical evening they are having in May . She enjoyed meeting some of the volunteers and counsellors too.

Soroptimist International of Manchester started off their year of Centenary celebrations with a very successful “Afternoon Tea With Speaker” at Heald Green Village Hall.  All the tickets were sold, food was prepared by club members, the hall was decorated with bunting, pretty tea plates, cups and saucers were laid out and many club members were on hand to see that the guests were served and had a very enjoyable time. The proceedings started with a glass of sparkling wine followed by a most enlightening illustrated talk by John Travis entitled “Fabulous Jewels and their Famous Owners”.   He showed us pictures of jewels from Queen Elizabeth I to Queen Elizabeth II.  It was very interesting to learn how the precious jewels were used again and again being incorporated into different styles of crowns, tiaras, necklaces, rings and brooches according to the fashion of the day. 

Sue, Rosemary and I met recently met with Dr Donnell Davis who is the Soroptimist International Programme Director South East Asia Pacific. Donnell was visiting an old friend and work colleague in Manchester on her way back home to Australia from the United Nations in New York. Donnell had delivered a paper in New York with good news as well as highlighting areas of concern. Her message was whilst there has been progress on climate change there is a need for greater focus on adolescence issues and women’s reproductive health. We arranged to meet at The Pankhurst Centre the former home of Emmeline Pankhurst who, along with her sister Christabel, were the charismatic leaders of the Women’s Social and Political Union. The movement became known as the suffragettes. We had lunch in the Whitworth Art Gallery with the added attraction of an exhibition entitled Women

Sharon – friend of our Treasurer Sue – has raised over £800 (far exceeding her target) for our centenary charity fund by walking the Camino Ingles – 115 km from Ferrol in northern Galicia to Santiago de Compostela. Also known as the English Way because medieval pilgrims from Britain would sail to Ferrol then complete their journey overland to Santiago. We are so grateful to Sharon. From our club to Sharon on Facebook – Sharon, all Soroptimist International of Manchester members send our grateful thanks for choosing to donate your sponsorship to our Centenary Charities Fund  Thank you for sharing your photos and insights during your incredible journey. You are an inspiration to us all  Comments from some of of our members on our Social WhatsApp – Carole – Terrific achievement. You are amazing. Rosemary – We are so glad you chose our charities to

When SIGBI made Climate Change a priority for 2020 we undertook several initiatives, one of which was to reduce waste by recycling.  We discovered that every year in the UK up to 45 million printer cartridges end up in landfill. It can take a thousand years for a cartridge to decompose.  We were delighted to find that we could raise funds for Act4Africa, one of our partner charities, by collecting printer cartridges and sending them to Recycle4Charity.

We marked the day in three ways – donating to four of the charities we support, at our club meeting earlier in the week and attending the Regional Programme Action Meeting on the day. We donated to  two local and two international charities – WomenMatta, The River Manchester, Act4Africa, and New Hope Rural Trust. At our club meeting members spoke about inspirational women – Esther Ghey – mother of murdered teenager Brianna, she now campaigns for social media reform, is the founder of Peace and Mind UK and has written a book, ‘Under a Pink Sky’. Hilary. Gisele Pelicot who faced her husband and multiple rapists in court, charting a new course for victims of sexual abuse. Fiona. Clara Zetkin, a German Marxist theorist, activist and advocate for women’s rights, her efforts led to the first International Women’s Day being celebrated in 1911. Sue U. Melanie

President Elect Fiona once again hosted a pancake party to raise funds for our charities. Members, family and friends enjoyed savoury pancakes stuffed with chicken and mushroom, spinach and ricotta or roasted vegetables, followed by dessert crepes.  Again there was a bar and raffle – which helped to raise an amazing £500 – and challenging games.   Some of the comments on our Social WhatsApp group – Sue S. – Thanks Fiona and Paul for a lovely evening. Great food and company and mind challenges. Val – A great pancake party. Thank you so much for the food, the company and the challenges. Catherine N. – Always a pleasure to have fun and good food around you and your warm family. Fii – Great evening thanks Fiona and Paul. We did our best with the challenges.