SI Rossendale held its 20th Charter Lunch at Sykeside Country House Hotel on 16 October 2016. Thirty two Soroptimists and guests gathered to enjoy great food and great company. President Alison Driver welcomed everyone to the event, highlighting that although SI Rossendale was celebrating it’s 20th Charter, there had been a Soroptimist presence in the Valley for 79 years. The Guest of Honour, The Worshipful The Mayor of Rossendale, Councillor Granville Morris thanked the members of SI Rossendale on behalf of Rossendale Council for the work that they did in the Rossendale Valley helping women and girls, he said that “their tireless efforts are received with the thanks of the Borough”. The club’s hard work over the years was also recognised by the President of the North West and Isle of Man Soroptimist International, Margaret Hammond, who commended the club for its contribution to Soroptimist

SI Rossendale were pleased to welcome Sylvia Lancaster OBE to their club meeting on 18 October to talk about the work of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation in educating young people and organisations on the impact of hate crime and how we can work to change attitudes for the best. Sylvia’s daughter Sophie, together with her boyfriend Rob, were viciously attacked in a park in Bacup nine years ago. The only motive for the crime seemed to be that Sophie and Rob dressed in a unique way, expressing their individuality as creative artistic people. The Foundation works in conjunction with politicians and police forces to ensure individuals who are part of subcultures are protected by the law. In 2013 Greater Manchester Police became the first to monitor and record hate crimes and incidents againts people from Alternative Subcultures. Several other Police Authorities followed their example. SI

On October 14th Grange Soroptimists held ” An Evening with Val Armstrong” which was a great success with over 100 Soroptimists and guests enjoying canapes and bubbly and finding out more about Soroptimism. Val Armstrong, Radio Cumbria presenter, gave an amusing and interesting talk about her work as a broadcaster and her experience of breast cancer. Over £1,000 was raised for Breast Cancer Care and we also hope to recruit new members as a result of the evening. As October 14th was “Big Pink Day” many present wore pink to mark the occasion. There were stalls for people to browse and purchase jewellery, scarves, cards, preserves, Christmas gifts and hand knotted poppies. Cath Holland, local midwife and international campaigner against FGM in Kenya, also had a stall at the event, raising awareness of her work and the issue of FGM.

Monday 3 October 2016 Blackburn Soroptimists held their annual Friendship Evening at Wilpshire Golf Club where they welcomed the Mayoress of Blackburn with Darwen, friends from other local organisations, including Red Rose Ladies, Blackburn Townswomen’s Guild, fellow Soroptimists from clubs in the North West area, Dara & Bob Gower from the Blackburn Foodbank and other friends. Guests were given an informative and interesting presentation by Julia Goddard of Bees Ed in Kendal who gave a fascinating insight into “Gardening for Bees”, how habitat loss is the main causes of bee decline and how and what to grow to help in the survival of bees in this country. As well as decorating the room with a “bee”  theme, members organised all raffle prizes to be bee/honey related. Even the food served included honey in the recipes  or introduced black and gold in the decoration. A quiz

Friday 23 September 2016, at The Crofters. [new_royalslider id=”11″] Write up to follow!

Higham, one of the villages in Pendleside, held their annual Scarecrow Festival on the August Bank Holiday weekend. The theme was a singer or a song. SI Pendleside decided that our entry would be “The Beverley Sisters” dressed as Soroptimists with super blonde wigs. All around the village 67 Scarecrows appeared and although we didn’t win we had great enjoyment dressing the scarecrows and taking part in the great weekend. In the Village Hall we also ran the Tombola stall and raised £154 for the Malala Appeal, and set up the “Ask me why I am a Soroptimist” display and answered many questions from the hundreds who attended. Barbara Shaw (SI Pendleside)