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.

Lovely thank you from International aid Trust after sending more than 30 boxes of goodies for youngsters.  All sorts of things from pens to hair scrunchies and everything inbetween.  They all went to Ukraine to  – hopefully – make some youngsters smile.  

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

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

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.

We celebrated the Queen’s Jubilee at Kingsfold Library by holding an afternoon tea at our regular Tuesday afternoon cafe. Cakes, sandwiches, quiche and all sorts.  We sang,  had a quiz or two and had a great time. About 15 local people came to celebrate with us.

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.  

A simple new project we thought……….. collecting empty tablet blister packs and taking them to Superdrug in Preston to be recycled.  Superdrug are supporting Marie Curie and any money raised by the collection goes to them.  Recycling and Raising money for charity.  Woo Hoo we thought. So I put a post on Facebook And thought nothing much about it.  Till I checked the next day and we had reached over 1500 people.  By 11.00am this had gone up to over 5000.  The next day it was 97,000 and by this time,the direct message response was impossible.  The 97,000 doubled, tripled, quadrupled and within 4 days had reached more than 8 million people. The power of social media is unbelievable. This has a bit of a downside though It’s tough to keep up with peoples’ queries – So here is what we know.   Superdrug are collecting