Our ‘Soroptimisses’ – students of the Penwortham Girls High School school club – continue to work hard and enjoy their project work. One of their latest tasks was to support the Wrap Up Lancashire project
Smalls for All is a charity that collects ‘gently used’ underwear and sends it to girls and women and children in Africa and the UK. It is an easy project for anyone to do which can make a massive impact on lives. Members of our club decided to collect those forgotten bras that are lying in the drawer. Those that we forgot we had. Those that seemed like a bargain when we bought them but will probably never fit anyway. Everyone is a winner!
Our school club at Penwortham Girls’ High School held an ”End of Year’ Ceremony to celebrate the work they have done over the past year and to decide on next year’s President and two Vice Presidents. Some of our members accepted the invitation from the girls to come and help them celebrate and commemorate their achievements. The girls took turns to speak to the group speaking of how much they are enjoying being part of the group and telling us of their plans for next year. They have sponsored two girls in Swaziland through a year of education with the charity PIES. This is no mean feat as each sponsorship is £320 but, without their help, the girls in Swazi would not be able to go to school. Our ‘Misses’ are passionate about continuing this accomplishment. Five girls were welcomed as new members and received
Our drop in cafe at Kingsfold Library, Penwortham is proving to be a great success. We are now into month three and have several regulars popping in every week to sample our (mainly!) home made (calorie free?) cakes and have a brew. We have met loads of interesting people and discussed topics ranging from dogs to dyslexia. We are planning to hold some themed events and look forward to meeting many more people and hopefully, bringing a smile to a few faces. Drop in on a Tuesday and say ‘Hello’.
We have had some great speakers so far this year: Dave from Preston and South Ribble Street Pastors spoke about how he and his fellow pastors roam the streets of Preston every Saturday night from 10.30 till 3.00am when normal people are fast asleep. The pastors help and support night club and pub go-ers who are, as he so sweetly put it, ‘in a bit of a muddle’. This could be finding a taxi for them or their friends or give out flip flops to girls who have taken off their shoes (and who hasn’t ever done this? – even some Soroptimists in their dim and distant youth) and are in danger of cutting feet or worse. They support the homeless and the street workers. A couple of our members made up some ‘girly packs’ with shampoo, soap, sanitary protection etc and these have been
We held our first Drop In Cafe event this week. Held at Kingsfold Library in Penwortham, Members Lynn and Karen were the hostesses! Armed with crockery and cakes (Lynn’s home Victoria Sandwich was very popular), tablecloths and teabags, we didn’t have to wait long for our first guests. Three ladies who had come into the library together to play dominoes, were very surprised to see refreshments available. They were followed – albeit slowly – by several more ladies, a young toddler in a pram and a gentleman who had come in to do some work. The consensus was one of approval and there were promises to be back next week and to spread the word about Soroptimist International of Preston being at the library. We hope that eventually, people will come regularly, build relationships and make friends. We hope that if there are people that
We are very excited about our new project – a Drop In Cafe and is open to anyone who feels isolated or needs a bit of company. It’s at Kingsfold Library in Penwortham every Tuesday afternoon from 1.30 till 4.00. We aren’t sure what to expect but know it’ll be fun.
Well, we’ve got lots planned. Talks from Street Pastors of Chorley and South Ribble, The Prince’s Trust, ‘Mental Health and Young People’ amongst them. We’ve got a demonstration in how to wear a kimono – well, you never know when it will come in useful. After all, one of our mantras is ‘Educate. Empower and Enable’ so at the end of that evening we will be educated in Japanese fashion. We will be doing our usual collections – foodbank, loose change, maybe the odd bra or 50 and anything else we come up with. We will be having a few social events – cake and possible wine will probably be involved somewhere. Importantly, we are planning a new project that will start in May. We are starting a Drop In Cafe at Kingsfold Library for anyone who wants to come. We hope to reach people
