To help save lives during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April  Torquay & District Soroptimist International organised a coffee morning with their family, friends & colleagues as part of the Be a Star, Bake a Cake campaign to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April. The Coffee morning took place at Rosegarth on Wednesday 13th April to raise awareness of bowel cancer because several club members have experienced the disease and  want more people to be aware of the symptoms or take part in bowel cancer screening.  Torquay Soroptimists are pleased to be able to donate £273.75 to Bowel Cancer UK. The campaign had already garnered high profile, celebrity chef support, including Gennaro Contaldo, widely known as the Italian legend who taught Jamie Oliver all he knows about Italian cooking, who said: “Go on, Be a Star, Bake a

Calling all knitters – help us knit Twiddlemuffs for people suffering from Dementia Members of the Torquay & District Soroptimist International are putting their knitting needles to good use knitting Twiddlemuffs for patients with dementia, and they are looking for more knitters to join them. Twiddlemuffs are double thickness knitted woollen hand muffs with items such as ribbons, large buttons or textured fabrics attached that patients with dementia can twiddle in their hands.  People with dementia often have restless hands and like something to keep them occupied. The Twiddlemuffs provide a source of visual, tactile and sensory stimulation at the same time as keeping hands snug and warm. “We are hoping that volunteers, will come forward to put their knitting skills to good use and make more Twiddlemuffs. They are an excellent way of helping to combat the restlessness and agitation that may be experienced

Torquay & District SI are supporting the Bowel Cancer Awareness Month by holding a coffee morning at Rosegarth on Wednesday 13th April 2016 at 10.30. Come along,  invite your friends, family and colleagues to sample the delicious treats and make a donation. Holding a Be a Star, Bake a Cake event is a great opportunity to raise awareness and raise money – our support will help fund vital research and lifesaving work to stop bowel cancer.

SWCI Newsletter13 2016 spring

Members of the LIGHT group meet regularly in a relaxed environment at a coffee morning hosted by Torquay & District Soroptimist International.  Coffee and hot cross buns were enjoyed at their recent meeting before they moved on to their requested activity – flower arranging. Torquay Soroptimist’s have several enthusiastic members who have a special interest in flower arranging as a hobby, they were keen to use their skills to help others and provided the LIGHT group with different types of vessels, foam, mixed spring flowers and assorted greenery to complete an Easter arrangement. The group selected their flowers carefully, cut them to size and with guidance from the Soroptimists quite quickly each produced a beautiful arrangement which gave pleasure and delight. Arranging flowers can give peace of mind and can also lead to the attainment of patience and strength in adversity. LIGHT group members all

Members of the Torquay & District Soroptimist International in support of Fairtrade Fortnight 2016, watched a Fairtrade Matters DVD which highlight the severe lack of food security faced by farmers around the world.  Their Big Fairtrade Breakfast was served (although later in the day) at the recent Speaker Meeting, to support the farmers who grow some of the breakfast staples, such as coffee, tea, cocoa and bananas. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day yet millions of farmers and workers in developing countries don’t earn enough to know where their next meal is coming from. About 795 million people are undernourished globally, and half of the world’s hungry people, nearly 400 million, are estimated to live on small farms, despite them working hard to grow the food we eat every day. [i] Cheryl Rider from the Torquay & District group said: “Fairtrade means

I am writing to you to express our considerable gratitude to you and the ladies of The Torquay & District Soroptimist Society for so kindly supporting us and the work we do here at Anode. We are extremely thankful that you continue to donate goods to our Foodbank so that we can support people in need. Just before Christmas we delivered over 280 hampers to families in and around Torbay. During the first week of our return to work after Christmas we received over 150 calls for assistance for families and individuals in desperate need – it looks like January is going to be extremely busy for us. Last year we received over 4,500 referrals from people in need of help from all of our programmes. Our Foodbank has always been busy but our other Restore, Smilemaker and Aspire programmes are now in constant demand