International Friendship Soroptimist club Chester invited members from our club to a meeting to speak about our Mastectomy Cushion project. The aim of the meeting was to bring together Soroptimists from across Cheshire North Wales & Wirral Region to meet six visitors on a Grant of Friendship from SI Phnom Penh, Cambodia. President Wendy gave us all a very warm welcome, we felt very much at home. They had arranged it so that 2 of the Cambodian Soroptimists were on each table, so we all had a chance to meet them and chat. The first speaker was Glenys from SI Heswall, talking about the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). CSW was founded in 1948. It gathers information on women's lived experience. Implementation of the SDGs is key. A lot of data is needed, and it's important to involve men and boys in

International Women's Day 8th March 2024 Club members were invited by Halton Borough Council Registration services to Runcorn Town Hall to be present at the opening by the Worshipful the Mayor of Halton Cllr. Valerie Hill of the Preece Suite, which has been named after one our club founder members Miss Muriel Preece MBE Muriel Jessie Preece was the first women to chair the Runcorn Urban District Council in 1961. Much interest was shown in finding out about Muriel Preece, so the club was able to share some of the club archive material with the Registration Service, and Runcorn & District Historical Society – they will also learn more about the other amazing women who preceded us.

Club Quiz Fundraiser We held our first BIG Fundraiser of the year at Runcorn Golf club and raised over £700 for our project work this year. Please click our  Fundraising Flyer  to read more about our Projects. Thanks to all our Supporters for coming along to this ‘Good Fun Quiz’ the room was full to bursting. Thanks to Simon Chesterson our Amazing Quiz - master and to Sue and staff of Runcorn Golf Club for all their help in making this evening so special. Thanks once again to member Karen and her team for organizing this successful annual event. Congratulations to the winning Team 'The Undecided' and The 'Widnesians' who came second. Please see photos of the evening - click on photos to enlarge

Club Members learn Braille Supporting and volunteering for projects connected with Vision / Eyesight would appear to be a thread that has run through the club since 1948. In June 1948 just over a year after the club was founded, the then Club President Miss Muriel Preece received a letter from the secretary to the Chief Librarian at the National Library for the Blind in Manchester asking for help. Without any hesitation the members decided to respond and immediately invited someone to come and speak to them at their July Social Meeting. No one was available at such short notice so without more ado they cancelled their social meeting and took themselves off on a train to Manchester to visit the library for themselves. The outcome of this visit was that the library promised that an instructor would come across from Manchester to give members

Soroptimists Orange the World Soroptimist Runcorn Frodsham & District support the United Nations 'Orange the World' Campaign. Throughout the year the club has held 'Orange Cafe's' on the 25th of each month - “Orange Day”, a day to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women and girls. The club has also been involved in a Pop Up Anti - slavery Event at Frodsham Methodist Church. It was good to be there and to tell people about our project supporting Causeway and giving Christmas presents to women survivors of trafficking as part of our 'Operation Christmas Campaign'.  The money raised from the Anti Slavery event event has been donated to the Salvation Army modern slavery survivors support fund. Why Orange? As a bright and optimistic colour, orange represents a future free from violence against women and children. Orange Day calls upon us all

Orange the World Christmas Tree Our Club Supports women and children by Education Empowerment and by providing enabling opportunities Each year we support the United Nations ‘Orange the World’ campaign, and 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence. The 16 days runs from 25th November Orange the World Day until United Nations Day of Human Rights on 10th December. As a bright and optimistic colour, orange represents a future free from exploitation of women and children. We have decorated our tree to raise awareness of the ‘Orange the World’ Campaign. It is part of a Christmas Tree Festival at our local church St Michael and All Angels Runcorn. The Festival starts Wednesday 6th December until Saturday 9th December, and  is attended by many people.  

BINGO Fundraiser – A HUGE Success What were members of Soroptimist Runcorn/Frodsham doing on Saturday night 14th October? Yes! –  playing Bingo! It was a great fun evening and we raised over £600 towards our Christmas projects. Huge thanks to all who came and supported our event and delighted that Region President Susan came and joined in the fun. Special thanks to member Pat and her team who organised the evening and to her husband Alan our Bingo Caller for the night. It was such a successful evening for our #Soroptimist club, we had some fabulous BINGO prizes and a Grand Raffle. It was great to raise so much for our ‘Operation Christmas Appeal’ where we support our local Runcorn & District Foodbank and also purchase toys for local under privileged children.  

Garden Party - A Triumph over the Elements This year Karen and Ken hosted our club garden party - it rained.... It kept on raining, but thanks to Ken for erecting a fabulous marquee, we were all able to enjoy a fabulous afternoon together of Fun, Food and Friendship We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the food was great. Huge thanks to Karen and Ken for Hosting and to Sandra and her team for organising Please click on pics below to enlarge

Teddy Tombola 2023 Runcorn/Frodsham Soroptimists have been running a ‘Teddy Tombola’ stall at the ‘Festival in the Park’ Frodsham since 2009, raising funds for our local Hospice. The Festival is staged by partners ‘Rotary’ as part of the community voluntary sector for the Festival.   We run our Tombola annually in aid of our local hospice  ‘Halton Haven’. Each Teddy is given a number and the corresponding number is put in a box for the children to draw out. Every child is a winner.   This year we were able to raise £250 for the hospice, which enables men and women who need palliative care, to be looked after near their families.   Throughout the year all club members collect Teddies and Soft toys for the Teddy Tombola Event, these are washed ready for the stall. Members of the club man the stall throughout the

Club Trip to Jodrell Bank 2023 The huge Lovell Telescope has been a much-loved fixture of the Cheshire countryside since 1957. We visited as a club in the summer of 2000, and remembered a wonderful planetarium presentation but a rather basic visitor centre. The trees of the surrounding arboretum were still immature then too. So in 2023 we thought it was high time we went to Jodrell Bank again and we made it our summer outing for this year. The visitor Centre is now in several buildings and the museum display is amazing, going through the history of the site and how important it was during the Cold War - it was actually neutral, and did work for and received scientists from both Western governments and the Soviet Union. It was thus a very important bridge in keeping communications open between the two sides. There