Even more important after the issues of Lockdown, Swindon Soroptimists maintained their support of the Swindon Nelson Trust Women’s Centre by presenting their Christmas gift boxes / bags for the 6th year running. The Club have few members but have had great support from friends and also Marlborough Ladies Who Latte club in donating unwanted and freebie items that can be included!  Fortunately two members are in a bubble so were able to do the mammoth task of sorting and filling all the boxes, each containing 28 different items collected over the year. As Lydia Cardew, Club Project Officer says “These women have challenging lives, often made worse by the lockdown situation so we want them to know that people do care. We always make the boxes useful and fun, with items such as scarves, toiletries, and pads / pens as well as a Christmas

Well this year we surpassed ourselves!!  Swindon Soroptimists donated 286 books to Drove Primary School in Swindon on World Book Day!  This is our 6th year and once again we had wonderful support from Club members, friends and especially Marlborough and Swindon Ladies Who Latte. The children delighted us with their story book character costumes and we were all laughing ourselves silly with the antics of the staff who performed Fairy stories on stage!  Ast Principal Bryony said that our annual donations make a big difference to the children. Bryony thanked us for the amazing donations again and explained “We are hoping to open a Book Swap Station or something similar for our families to access at points throughout the term. This will allow parents to borrow a range of books to read at home with their children and allow them opportunities to experience books

Celebrating 60 years of service to Swindon and the wider community, some of the members of Swindon Soroptimists had a celebratory drink and nibbles in Oct 2020, whilst socially distancing! Since Oct 1960 the club has celebrated many achievements including influencing the change in the law on pornography, 10 years service at the BIG Breakfast Club for the homeless, providing 2,500 hearing aids to deaf children in Nigeria, raising over £100,000 for local and international charities, whilst supporting many women’s organisations such as the  Nelson Trust and Swindon Women’s Aid. Photos show members Lydia, Gillian, Jackie and Valerie.  The 2nd shows our official Charter and the badges of previous Presidents!  We hope to have a proper celebratory meal with all members when Covid allows!

Swindon Soroptimists made the most of lockdown in 2020 to have a clear out and donated a large pile of books, DVD’s clothes, household and gift items to Swindon Women’s Aid (SWA) charity shop to help provide essential funding for the excellent support and Helpline they provide women who have been abused. Swindon Soroptimists have a long association with SWA and constantly campaign on the issue of violence against women. Club members advertised the shortages to friends and family and many from the Ladies Who Latte groups also made direct deliveries to the SWA shop. SWA Chairman Nicky Alberry commented “ We will be delighted to receive your donations. Thank you so much for doing this for us. “ For more info on their work see https://swadomesticabuse.org/

Club Members delivered Easter Eggs and chocolates at Nelson Trust