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Baby Basics MK welcomed to our June meeting

Baby Basics MK welcomed to our June meeting

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         It was lovely at our June meeting to welcome Hannah from Baby Basics MK come to tell us all about the charity and its work in Milton Keynes. Like us, Baby Basics has been supporting MK families for 10 years having started up in 2015.  They have one part time employee and at present have 27 volunteers and are classed as an emergency service. Baby Basics support some of the most vulnerable families with children up to 6 years old in the MK area, working in partnership with midwives, health visitors, children’s centres, social workers, and other professionals to provide help when it’s needed most.  Mums and families are referred to their service and  todate in 2025 they have given our 400 kits and worked with 500 families this year.  Since Covid they have seen a significant increase in referrals. Baby Basics MK with

International Womens Day Afternoon Tea 5 March 2025

International Womens Day Afternoon Tea 5 March 2025

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Join us to celebrate International Womens Day 2025, under the United Nations theme  “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”This year’s theme calls for action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind. Central to this vision is empowering the next generation—youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls—as catalysts for lasting change. To celebrate #internationalwomensday 2025 we are holding our annual Afternoon Tea on Wednesday 5 March, 2.30pm to 5.00pm at a new venue this year which is Wavendon Community Hub, Dankworth Way, Glebe Farm, Wavendon, MK 17 8ZN Emily Darlington, MP will be speaking about supporting women in Domestic abuse. Tickets are £17.50 per person including a glass of Prosecco or a soft drink, sandwiches and homemade cake. There will be a raffle prize. All donations will help fund an educational

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

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    January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. This year, Cervical Cancer Awareness Month aims to highlight the importance of increasing access to HPV vaccines, regular screening, and state-of-the-art treatment for cervical cancer in its early stages. The objective is to dramatically reduce the occurrence of cervical cancer by 2030 and to eliminate the disease as a public health problem by 2120. Cervical cancer is preventable and curable, as long as it is detected early and managed effectively. Yet it is the 4th most common form of cancer among women worldwide, with the disease claiming the lives of almost 350,000 women in 2022. Between 2014 and 2016, around 3,200 UK women were diagnosed with cervical cancer each year – that’s around nine new cases every day. Unlike most other cancer types, where risk increases with age, the rates of cervical cancer are highest in the 25-29 age group, and more than half of cases are in women under 45. The good

Oct to Dec 2024 Update

Oct to Dec 2024 Update

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What have we been doing these last 3 months.    In October, we achieved another 90 Challenge, or to be more accurate 4 x 90 challenges.  360 grams of used stamps were collected from members and friends and donated between the “Against Breast Cancer” charity and the “Macmillan Charity”.  And another bag of stamps has already been started, up to 200 grams which hopefully will grow with all the Chrstmas cards we will receive and we can then in the new year send that off to these two charities who help with vital research and much needed services that benefit women’s health. Also in October we donated to MK Act a sister bear to our Orange Bear, kindly made by Scottie for them to use on their stall when promoting their services.  Another black sack of clothes and 50 velvet coat hangers were donated to

Musica Charity Choir MK Event

Musica Charity Choir MK Event

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         What a fabulous Music event we had on December the 14th at the Mead Center, Newport Pagnell with the wonderful Musica Charity Choir MK. This was our 4th Annual Music event.  We held our first in Bletchley in 2021 when one of our members Karen Mason with her string quartet Melomane (which means Music lover), made up of  Caroline Cartwright, Kate Knight, Claire Vogeli and Bridget Wilson performed a wonderful concert of light and classical music and taught us a bit about their instruments.  The concert raised £450 which we donated to the Welfare Team at UnityMK for their homeless residents. They played for us again in 2022 and raised £600.  The money was split between the Ukraine Appeal charity here in MK for those mothers and children who had just arrived.  And the other half went to our sister club in Krakow who

Annual Vigil at MK Rose – End Violence Against Women and Girls

Annual Vigil at MK Rose – End Violence Against Women and Girls

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The United Nations General Assembly has designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  25 November is a focus for preventative programmes, such as the UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism and the White Ribbon UK ambassador programme for men and boys. Here in Milton Keynes, as part of the 16 Days of activism programme, an Annual Vigil is held at MK Rose.  Established in 2020 the annual vigil enables Milton Keynes’ citizens to mark their alliance with women and girls in our city and around the world, all of whom deserve to live free from violence.  The vigil resonates with people from all backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity, gender identity, age, religion, ability, or sexual orientation. The gathering is symbolic of the partnership taking action to end violence against women in Milton Keynes. Partners include the local authority, police, health services, parishes, voluntary sector and civil society organisations,

SI MiltonKeynes Sumer Branch mtg Aug 2024
Summer Branch meeting all in Pink

Summer Branch meeting all in Pink

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This month we held our sumer branch meeting, which is a more casual occasion of a picnic round one of our members house and we have a theme.  For 2024 it was Pink.  Pink relates to peace, friendship, nurturing, healthy to name a few.  All sentiments Soroptimists take to heart. For the evning our members dressed up in Pink, provided a picnic with a pink theme and of course we had pink drinks. At our July meeting our new member Scottie gave us a faboulous presentation about the fundraising  and volunteering she does for the Anlung Pi Free school in Cambodia. Anlung Pi free school was begun to help children who live on the largest dump in Cambodia.  It provides free learning in Khmer, English and simple maths. The school was thriving with over 300 pupils until Covid meant no travelling or mixing with others.

Miltin Keynes Musica Charity Choir event 14 Dec 2024

Miltin Keynes Musica Charity Choir event 14 Dec 2024

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Save the Date Soroptimist International Milton  Keynes  will be presenting an evening of musical entertainment with the fantastic MK Musica Charity Choir on Saturday 14 December, 7.00pm at The Mead Center, 67a High Stret, Newport Pagnell, MK16 8AB Tickets are £12.50 per person All funds raised from ticket sales will go towards our charities and charity projects: MK Act Womens Refuge; YMCA MK: Ukraine Appeal MK: Works For Us: Unity MK. There will be refreshments, a raffle, a silent auction for a home made quilt and a craft stall for those hand made xmas presents To order a ticket contact us on soroptimistsmk@gmail.com Please share this and come along, we look forward to seeing you and having a fantastic evening of music and sing along

Plastic Free July

Plastic Free July

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Plastic Free July is an annual initiative which provides resources and ideas to help you reduce single use plastic and help save our planet. About the challenge – Plastic Free July provides resources and ideas to help you (and millions of others around the world) reduce single-use plastic waste.  Do you want help to start living plastic free or just create new habits and use less? Join millions worldwide in the Plastic Free July challenge today! Click here to go to the Plastic Free July website where you can learn more and sign up to the challenge. Members of Soroptimist International Milton Keynes have renewed their Green Pledges to support this initiative.  Here is what we are doing in 2024: Never buy plastic bags – use for life bags or natural fiber lifetime bags or make own out of recycled materials. Walk to the local

June 2024 update

June 2024 update

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What have we been doing these last 3 months.                                Our “90 challenges”, celebrating SIGBI’s 90 years this year as a Federation are going well.  We have already achieved 5 challenges, which impressed the Regional Conference we hosted in June.  A little more about that later. At the end of March we donated 90 new and slightly used bras to Smalls for Us.  A UK charity that collects underwear for people in Africa and the UK who can’t afford or can’t get any.  Because Dignity matters. The  second  90  challenge  was  taking  part  in  MK Foodbank’s MK Logo challenge for Easter.  They asked communities, schools, groups and businesses if they could make up their logo or an easter picture in food items.  We made up our logo with just over 90 items of food as well as donating over 100