Our Bra Bank project is still in full swing. Organiser Bernie Reynolds is delighted to report that the Against Breast Cancer Bra Bank Campaign in October, which was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, has been a great success. There are 53 KG of bras waiting for collection to be sent to the Recycling Company.                   Bra banks have been positioned at over 20 sites. Some sites have been more successful than others and we are very grateful to Creative Hub in Cambridge Arcade, Holy Trinity Church and the One Vision Housing Complex ‘Mill Spring Court’ in Bootle. Many of the sites are happy to ‘host’ again for us next year and some sites are happy to keep their ‘banks’ for the time being. New sites have come on board which is also heartening. Currently there are ‘banks’ at:-

The annual Remembrance Sunday service was held on a beautiful sunny day at the Southport Cenotaph. Following  the Exhortation from the Chairman of the Royal British Legion and ‘The Last Post’, a two-minute silence was observed by all present. Wreaths were then laid, beginning with a Representative from the Merseyside Lieutenancy and The Worshipful, The Mayor of Sefton, Councillor Clare Louise Carragher on behalf of the townspeople of Sefton. President Carol Cookson laid the wreath for Soroptimist International of Southport. The Presiding Minister led the act of commitment: – To commit to responsible living and faithful service – To strive for all that makes for peace – To seek to heal the wounds of war – To work for a just future for all humanity Following a blessing and the National Anthem, the contingents from the armed forces, cadets and many other groups marched down

Everyone is  very welcome to SI Southport’s Christmas Fair, which will be held on Saturday 19th November from 10.00am – 12.00 noon at Baverstock House (entrance in Preston Road). There will be some great opportunities to stock up for Christmas, with craft, bric-a-brac and the ubiquitous cake stall – our members are super bakers! Entry is £3, including coffee/tea and mince pie. All proceeds are in aid of local charities.

At the start of October, we celebrated Friendship Night with our friendship links across the world. We joined on Zoom with our links in Dhanmondi in Bangladesh, Caserta in Italy, Horsens in Denmark and Gdańsk in Poland. Unfortunately, our friends in Lisburn, Northern Ireland could not join us this year as they had their own meeting. We heard from each of the friendship links about their club, activities and projects and it was wonderful to learn about the impact that Soroptimists are making in their local communities. As is our tradition, we lit a candle of friendship for each of our links and this was reciprocated. President Carol Cookson then lit a candle for Soroptimist International. SI Southport have always celebrated Friendship Night with the exchange of greetings with our friendship links. Since lockdown, with the advent of improved communications technology, we have been able

Our Programme Action project – Supporting Against Breast Cancer with the collecting of bras via ‘Bra Banks*’ – is launched! With grateful thanks to the Imperial, we hosted an informal gathering of our bra bank ‘hosts’ with SI Southport President Carol Cookson, Bernie Reynolds, who instigated the project, and other members of the club. Bernie explained the background to the project and the wonderful contribution made by local businesses and organsiations to champion and promote the cause. NO BRA IS TOO OLD OR TOO WORN OR TOO UNLOVED – the Bra Banks would like them all! Bra Banks are appearing all over Southport and the wider Merseyside area. We are so grateful to local businesses and organisations for hosting a Bra Bank, including: All Saints Church Creative Hub, Cambridge Walks The Imperial Mandala Yoga Poundstretcher Queen Bees One Vision Housing in Merseyside Brooks Court –

Members of Soroptimist International Southport are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen dedicated her life to the service of the nation and held fast to that promise. We are grateful to Her Majesty for a lifetime of devoted service to the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Our thoughts are with the Royal Family at this very sad time.  

One of our new members, Bernie Reynolds, needs your ‘support’! The charity Against Breast Cancer’s bra recycling scheme takes unwanted or unloved bras and through their network of bra banks, raise vital funds for pioneering breast cancer research. The same bras also help to support small businesses in developing countries in Africa and around the world. Together with the charity’s recycling partners, the textile recovery project prevents these bras going into landfill by giving them a new lease of life in countries such as Togo, Ghana and Kenya, where bras remain expensive to produce locally. Successful ventures like this provide an income for families in developing countries whilst providing employment for people living in the UK. Any bras that are genuinely beyond redemption are dismantled and disposed of properly. So it’s time to bin your bra! For every tonne of bras collected, Against Breast Cancer receives

We were delighted to welcome two members to SI Southport. Jill Newsham has known a number of our members for some time and was invited to present to the club about the ‘Department Stores of Southport’ at the start of 2022 (see the article on our website) She gave a fascinating talk, with a great depth of personal knowledge. We were delighted when Jill accepted our invitation to join SI Southport. We know she will be a great Soroptimist and has already been an active participant in our club activities since joining.                   Miriam McCann rejoined SI Southport after a couple of years absence. She was a very enthusiastic member of the club when she first joined, especially in the area of Programme Action, which is the key objective for all Soroptimist Clubs. We are so pleased

SI Southport members, friends and guests celebrated their 90th Charter in June. The club was chartered in March 1932, a few years after our mother club, SI Liverpool. To commemorate and celebrate our 90th anniversary, and with thanks to one of our new members, Bernie Reynolds, we were invited to create a display in the foyer of the Atkinson in the town centre during May. For those not familiar with Southport, the Atkinson is the town’s home for music, theatre, art, literature and history, a multi-purpose creative arts centre. With the assistance of the wonderful team at the Atkinson, we put together a slideshow and photo display, showing some of the activities of the club members over 9 decades. We were able to display many of the artefacts from the club’s history, including our original charter and an early Minutes book from 1933. We also

Past President Rosemary Moore introduced this project to our club members. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting programme devoted to inspiring a love of reading in the hearts of children everywhere. The programme was launched in the UK in December 2007 – with a visit from Dolly Parton to London – and since then, the Imagination Library has grown and now work with over 200 affiliate partners and deliver more than 40,000 books every month to children living in communities across the UK. SI Southport are sponsoring this programme locally in conjunction with Marshside Road Pre-School in Southport. Each month, the currently enrolled children up to age five receive a high quality, age-appropriate book in the post. The books are carefully selected, and full of variety. They include traditional stories and rhymes, books by beloved authors and illustrators, non-fiction content, and newly published titles. On