25 November 2016 Grange and Windermere Soroptimists joined forces to mark International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women by handing out 800 White Ribbon stickers to men and teenage boys in Kendal. The White Ribbon campaign calls on men to pledge never to COMMIT, CONDONE or REMAIN SILENT about violence against women. Isabel Huggett (Grange-over-Sands)
Saturday 19 November 2016 AGM and Regional Meeting Another successful year was celebrated at this year’s AGM and Regional Meeting. President Margaret reviewed a very active year and thanked all the clubs in the region for their hospitality at the various events that she had attended. The continued efforts and hard work of all the clubs in the Region was highlighted by President Margaret much of which had supported the President’s charity, Partners in Education Swaziland (PIES). She presented a cheque for £4478.90 to Lynn Yates, a PIES trustee, which brought the total donations made for the year to £6327. Regional Officers summed up their year and Grange and Windermere Clubs were congratulated on the recognition they had received at the Conference in Malta for the projects that they had managed this year. The highlight of the AGM was the transferring of Chains from the
Saturday 29th October 2016 Witches, wizards and ghouls gathered on the home of Soroptimist Dylis Hayton to act out an Halloween evening to remember. Guests were served with a ghostly stew and blood curdling fruit crumble. The evening continued with visits to the spooky cellar where games of ‘pin the wart on the witches nose’, ‘splat the spider’ and test our skill etc took place. The whole proved to be a frightening but successful end to Regional President Margaret’s year raising £1,300 for her charity Partners in Education Swaziland. Lynn Yates (Preston Soroptimists) [new_royalslider id=”14″]
19 November 2016 Members of the Region showed their support for the UNiTE campaign “16 Days to Orange the World ” initiated by the UN covering Nov 25th – 10 Dec to symbolise a brighter future without violence.
SI Preston recently completed their annual Salvation Army project. We filled thirty Christmas gift bags with items for the local homeless. Member, Sue Morris, spends much of each year looking for bargains and stocking towels, underwear, socks, deodorant, shower gel, toothpaste, toothbrushes and chocolate in her spare bedroom. This year the Community Co-Ordinator, Clare Hobson came to talk to the members about her position and thank everyone for their support. We know now that Christmas is just around the corner! Karen Rainford (SI Preston)
Members of SI Preston – along with the help of Penwortham Girls’ High School – collected over 700 pairs of shoes for the Angel Welfare and Education Trust. The Trust needs the shoes to help locals in Kenya fight Jigger Beetle infestation. Jiggers cause misery for millions of Kenyans. The tiny parasitic sand flies thrive in poor hygiene, and breed in the human body which can cause deformities and even death. It finds its way into the body via the bare foot so shoes are a blessing. With 700 pairs, it was a stroke of luck that member Audrey Forster doesn’t use her garage as it is now storage for the shoes until they are collected and sent off to Kenya. Karen Rainford (SI Preston)
