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Back to Basics – Supporting Girls

Back to Basics – Supporting Girls

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        We’ve gone back to our fundamental principal with these two projects: A local grassroots football team recently started up a Girls  U10sTeam.  It’s been so successful they’ve increased the teams to cover a larger age range from 7s upwards.  It’s a really fantastic initiative.  The girls have made life long friends. learnt how to work as a team.  They are full of energy, so enthusiastic (as are the mums and dads) and really professional.  How could we not support them.  We simply made a donation but – we were told it made such a big difference.  They have purchased some U7s goal posts. Our club supports the small, volunteer run charity Partners in Education Swaziland (PIES) who have 2 feeding centres.  They also support youngsters not able to go to school as educations isn’t free in Eswatini.  So, we sponsored Fisokuhle,

Be that Lad

Be that Lad

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We are trying to raise awareness of domestic violence but from a different angle – We are looking for the ‘lads’ who will speak up when they are in a situation when the rest of hs friends are ‘having a bit of banter’ with girls.  Or making a social situation difficult for girls.  You know the type of thing. We know that domestic violence increases after a football match – no matter who wins – and we know that the intake of alcohol increases too.  So we’ve had some beer mats printed and we are distibuting them to local bars and pubs. It might make one ‘lad’ stop and think and speak out. Please BE THAT LAD

Hidden in Plain Sight

Hidden in Plain Sight

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Members Lynn and Karen, attended a Tackling Modern Slavery Event.  It covered many aspects fom Spot the Signs to A Business Perspective.  Most poignant and harrowing was the story of a survivor, Marek, from Poland who was trafficked (and tricked) by his uncle to work in a scrap yard in East Lancashire.  After many, many months of brutal and cruel treatment, Marek was rescued thanks to a phone call from someone who felt that ‘something wasn’t right’.  Marek now lives with a degenerating neurological condition due to the brutal treatment but has got hs life on track and is keen to raise awareness of Modern Day Slavery.  It’s happening near us all and is hidden in plain sight.

Some of the projects we’ve done recently

Some of the projects we’ve done recently

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Just a few of the projects that have been keep us busy recently: Our annual Christmas Bags – this year we filled 36 for the Salvation Army and over 30 each for mums and children at the Safenet Centre – the local DV refuge.     Three times during the year  – we collect bags of sustainable items for Ashton Food Aid.  It’s our 10 in 10 collection.  10 bags with 10 items – but – that’s a bit of an underestimation – there are always 20 bags with 10 items. We had a Facebook Campaign to encourage everyone to Vote. We commemorated UN Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by collabarating with SI Ramsbottom and going to Preston Railway Station raising awareness amongst passengers by giving out cards.  We also printed off the Good Guys Guide and sent to anyone we could

A busy, brilliant and successful year!

A busy, brilliant and successful year!

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2023 has been a year to remember We started in March – commemorating World Water Day by putting ‘p’ into pots every time we used water during that day.  And it was a lot of times!  We raised £60 and were able to but 2 sanitary stations for midwives and new mums from Water Aid. Our weekly ‘drop in’ cafe which is now in its 5th year.  It’s held at a local library and we have about 15 regular friends who come and enjoy a cuppa, cake and lots of chat. Our £1 preloved clothes sales.  We held 3 this year and raised over £1300 altogether.  This enables us to fund much of the work we do.  They are very busy days with people queuing to get in and gathering lots of sensational bargains.  We have clothes that have never been worn still with their

What have we been up to recently?

What have we been up to recently?

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Quite a lot really…….. There was a Pan Lancashire Anti Slavery (PLASP) walk when we met up with other clubs from the region and tried to raise awareness of Modern Day slavery.4 Our ‘Drop In’ cafe continues to run well.  We have lots of regulars who have become friends, we have lots of laughter and chat and of course, cake! We continue to support the Salvation Army’s foodbank with donations.         We had a summer trip to the National Arboretum.       And we’ve held 2 preloved clothes sales where we sell everything for £1.  There were bargains galore and we raised money to help support the work we do – not to mention saved lots of really decent clothes going to landfill.

Catching Up

Catching Up

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Things appear to be back to normal in fact, it’s like the pandemic never happened……….. We are back to meeting in person – yippee – and have slowly been doing our project work     We made up bags for the homeless so the local Street Pastors can give them out as and when needed.  Member Lynn is on the left with the bags and she filled them with the goodies on the right.                   Our school club at Penwortham Girls’ High School organised a special assembly to commemorate International Women’s Day.  They interviewed member Karen Rainford.   President Ruth joined the STEM event held at the school advising students about careers in pharmacy.  

Back to business!

Back to business!

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It seems we are now back in business – fingers crossed that Omicron and it’s all variants and variables will be mere hiccups in the long tale of Covid. Our new President Ruth has ideas and plans galore so we are all looking forward to getting started again.  Big thank you to Ruth for taking on the mantle of President.