Once again we used our November Social Evening to fill Christmas boxes for the local charity Morecambe Homeless Action.   With plenty of table-top space in the function room of Bare Village Club and plenty of donations from our members and friends we set about sorting the items and packing the boxes.  It was an evening of friendship, teamwork and the satisfaction of a job well done. Generous donations to be sorted   Many thanks to all who contributed items and time to the evening as we continue our support of Morecambe Homeless Action. If you would like to know more about our Club’s activities please get in touch via the contact page on the website Contact Us or email us at si.morecambeandheysham@gmail.com.    

Certainly In April 2018 we were pleased to present the donations to the charities which we had chosen to support during Joan’s year as President.  Representatives from each of the local charities were invited to join us for nibbles and a drink before the presentation. Helen Hartin, North Lancashire Community fundraiser, accepted the cheque on behalf of Cancercare North Lancashire and South Cumbria  http://www.cancercare.org.uk .         Rachael Edmonds, trustee of the Neuro Drop-in Centre http://neurodropin.org.uk was presented with a cheque for the Centre.     The cheque for Lancaster & Morecambe Children’s Holiday of a Lifetime Society was accepted by Nigel Reeves.       Steve Dunstan of North West Blood Bikes Lancs & Lakes http://nwbb-lancs.org , who had given a presentation on the charity on a previous occasion, accepted their cheque   and we were later delighted to receive a certificate from Steve recording our donation.

We had a busy time in the run up to Christmas 2017 starting with holding our November Social meeting at a member’s home where we filled decorated boxes with a variety of items for the Morecambe Homeless Action charity.  The goodies were donated by Club members and the Christmas boxes were filled according to whether they were intended for women or men. Thanks to all who contributed and helped to make this an enjoyable evening, especially Maureen who so generously invited us to her home and stored the boxes until they could be collected by the charity.   In early December we hosted a Community Christmas Charity Fair at the Platform on central Morecambe Promenade, inviting local charities to take a stall and using the occasion to raise the profile of Soroptimism and our Club.  The offer was taken up by such charities as St John’s Hospice

In September 2017 we held our Friendship Evening, welcoming sister Soroptimists from Clubs in the North West and Isle of Man Region, along with Regional President Angie and Regional President Margaret from SI South Lancashire. The main event of the evening was a Beetle drive which required concentration with the rattle of dice being thrown the main sound of each round, followed by refreshments provided by our members. Many thanks to all who attended and supported the evening which was very successful – fun, food and friendship, the proceeds of the raffle being donated to Regional President Angie’s charity for the year – the Meru Women’s Garden Project. By early 2018 the Club was able to donate a substantial sum to the Meru Women’s Garden Project https://sigbi.org/our-charities/meru-womens-garden-project-2016-2019/  with funds from the Friendship Evening raffle and the proceeds of the sale of jams and preserves made and

In September 2017 we supported the Landmine Free campaign.   In October 2017 Programme Action Officer Noreen undertook a local survey on Trafficking and Slavery. The results were fed into the those from clubs within our Region and then into a national survey.  

During Joan’s year as President we have been pleased to welcome representatives from our chosen charities to speak about their organisations. In June 2017 Steve Dunstan, Northern Area Manager, and his colleague gave us a really interesting presentation on the North West Blood Bikes Lancs and Lakes. The charity provides a voluntary out-of-hours transport service to the local NHS hospitals, carrying urgent and emergency items – blood, platelets, samples, donor breast milk, patient notes, theatre equipment – anything which can be carried by motorcycle.  For more information on this vital work please see http://nwbb-lancs.org. In September 2018 Sharon Jackson, founder of the Neuro Drop-in Centre Lancaster entertained us with a lively and thought-provoking account of how she realised the need in the Lancaster and Morecambe area for a friendly and welcoming place for those affected by neurological conditions to find support and companionship.  The award-winning centre also

Morecambe Homeless Action receives £500 donation Morecambe Homeless Action Group will benefit to the tune of £500 in the coming year. Bonnie Mitchell, President of Soroptimist International Morecambe and Heysham, presented the cheque to Shirley Boult of Morecambe Homeless Action Group at the Annual General Meeting of the Club.   The Morecambe and Heysham Club has been pleased to support Morecambe Homeless Action as one of their charities during 2016-17.  In addition to the cash donation, we also donated 26 Christmas Gift boxes (12 for men and 14 for women) in December 2016 and the Club will continue to support the charity during 2017-18. Soroptimist International of Morecambe International also sent a cheque for £300 to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).