The early projects and activities reflected the ‘lean ‘years following the Second World War and met the needs of local people and charities. From reading the records, the first project of the Club was a Christmas Draw and its proceeds funded a distribution of 10 shillings each to 33 needy ladies of the district and it seemed that subsequent fundraising was mostly done through raffles, whist drives and selling embroidered pieces at a regular bring-and-buy stall. The records show that our first service project was transcribing print into braille.
We’ve learnt that we follow in the footsteps of some strong and amazing women whose actions and concerns still echo with us today. The local newspaper in 1948 reported the words of the first President Miss M E Moston: “If we could only get women to take a greater part in the world’s affairs we should not only get peace we should keep it.”
The Early Years
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 their first lesson in transcribing print into Braille – the club secretary was responsible for arranging her train journey and making sure she arrived on time.
We have no record of how many members were involved in this training but minutes of a later meeting record that the Club president gave an update of progress being made by members, and that a further machine was being presented to the club by Mr Crowther – who was proprietor of the Club meeting venue and this news and I quote ‘was received with great applause by the club!’
Nothing more is recorded about this project until October 1950 when two members gave an account of an event, they had attended by invitation, to a Braille Reading Contest in Whalley Range High School where they had been and again I quote ‘were impressed by the happy atmosphere and the age range of those competing – from young children in Elementary School to older competitors, and that prizes had been presented by Mrs Bromley Davenport – I think we can be certain that she was wearing a very smart hat and of course gloves!
There are no further references as to how long this project continued – no Programme Focus Reports to refer to in those day! But there are references later on to the Club giving financial support to the work of St Dunstan’s – now known as Blind Veterans UK. This was a charity set up set up to provide training, rehabilitation and lifelong support to those blinded in the First World War. Interestingly their headquarters were for a short time in Bayswater Road.
Further down the line, The Club eagerly supported the International Presidents project working with Sight Savers.
Another major service project undertaken by the club was in the 90’s and into the 2000’s when members were on a rota of volunteer readers for the Runcorn Talking Newspaper. This was a weekly commitment and to this day – well at least until Lockdown when the service stopped- one of our members is a reserve reader for this project.
Those wonderful eager and determined women who went before us are an inspiration to us all and as a club we are so proud of their achievements.
Founder Member
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.
70th Charter Celebrations
Club members celebrated the 70th Anniversary of their chartering in style at Forest Hills Hotel Frodsham on Saturday 17th March. We were delighted to welcome Federation President Sue and Region President Hilary together with their husbands to this special occasion. President Sandra invited our special guests to cut our splendid celebration cake.
We received many greetings from near and far and were very happy to receive a special gift from our Mother Club Ellesmere Port and District – they have twinned a toilet on our behalf!
President Hilary proposed the toast to Soroptimist International and President Sue responded. They were both generous in their praise for our Club and its work over the years and encouraged us to carry on. President Sue also reminded us that we should take time to think about ourselves and to enjoy what we do.
Entertainment was provided by the delightful Kiwi Chorus. Finally President Sandra thanked our guests for joining us and reminded us that it is our members who are our strength; for seven decades the dedication, skills, friendship, and sense of enjoyment have been, and still are the strength of our Club.