December 10th A Visit to All Saints Church All Saints Church in Torre held a wonderful Christmas Tree Festival. Charities were invited to pay for a tree then decorate it and put their collection box out to attract donations. At least forty trees sparkled around the church and filled the eye. Gaynor and Barbara organised a Torquay Soroptimist Tree for us with our blue and gold colour scheme. The church was a festive sight to behold and it was so good for our club to be a part of it.                                 

Saturday 14th January Visit to the Purple Angel Memory Café, Barton Baptist Church. Torquay ladies were pleased to celebrate the Second Anniversary of the memory café. Our group entered into the spirit of things straight away. Norman and Elaine gave speeches to the large audience. They thanked everyone they could think of who had contributed in any way to the success of the café. And then it was party time! That’s when it’s good to forget for once. I forget the problems and live for the moment. We played games, we sang, we danced, we ate a delicious cream tea and we were entertained by Peter (Mac) Dell. He sings with a lovely, smooth, easy style although he did finish on a high as we all joined in with Delilah! A visit to the Memory Café is uplifting for all. (Then it’s off to do the

Torquay & District Soroptimist International gathered all their old jewellery which was either broken or no longer wanted, and filled jiffy bags for the Purple Angel Memory Café who can put it to worthy use by recycling it to raise funds in their next fund raising event.   They welcome jewellery of any kind – whether it’s an odd cufflink or earring, or a bracelet or necklace that you no longer wear. Every single item is gratefully received, and the money raised will be used to fund future projects.

Every donated item makes a difference, members of the Torquay & District SI didn’t want to throw away their unwanted items so our local Heart Foundation shop was contacted to book a collection from Rosegarth for free to help raise funds to support their life saving work. The Heart Foundation is powered by research and every year they fund millions of pounds worth of pioneering research to help those suffering with heart disease.

Riviera Concert Brass Christmas Concert at Central Church Torquay Wednesday 14th December 7.30pm Entry £5.00 Proceeds for Combe Pafford School Members will be supporting this event, join the Christmas celebrations & support a worthwhile cause.

  Members took part in the Poppy Appeal by collecting and selling poppies at Sainsbury’s Torquay, all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion, each £1 donated for a poppy, goes towards a wide range of services and support for our veterans, serving personnel of the British Armed Forces and their families.  The Poppy Appeal would not happen without volunteers and many veterans would not be able to get the help that they need.  Hopefully we will be helping to make a huge difference to the lives of the Armed Forces community. Jane Pearce, Gaynor Raisey, Barbara Soames, Pat Teague and Gill Wood, represented the club to show respect for the servicemen and women of Britain and the Commonwealth who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect us, on Sunday 13th November 2016, at the Remembrance Sunday Parade which took place at the War Memorial, Princess

We recently received an email from Margareth Johansson who is President of SI Falkenberg in Sweden. She was visiting Torquay at the beginning of November and asked if members of the Torquay & District SI would like to meet up with her.  Emails were exchanged and arrangements made to meet her one afternoon at the Riviera Centre Torquay.  She enjoys meeting with Soroptimists from other countries and was interested to hear what projects our club is working with. During the afternoon she talked about her club SI Falkenberg who are working on different projects, both in Sweden and abroad. They have for some years helped a female student (Asha) in India study IT. Asha has recently been to Sweden and attended one of their business meetings.  A South African a girl (Geriann) has been supported with her school fees. They also support Sweden’s projects Solvatten. 

Christmas Concert at Central Church Torquay Wednesday 14th December 7.30pm Entry £5.00 Proceeds for Combe Pafford School

On Tuesday 1st November Torquay ladies held a social gathering for themselves but they were still mindful of others. Secretary, Veronica Prowse, sent out an invitation and a group of ladies descended on her home for fish and chips and apple crumble! It was a happy, relaxed evening enjoyed by all. (These social gatherings are good for the soul but not for the waistline!) The raffle was drawn and prizes given out and then it was home time. Veronica’s evening generated £80 profit which she will donate to the Meru Garden Project. Thank you to Veronica and her husband for their hospitality. Linda Churchward

2016 Service of Remembrance. A group of ladies attended the service at Central Church, Torquay on Friday 11th November.  We paid our respects as individuals and also as representatives of Torquay & District Soropotimist International. The Riviera Concert Brass Band played a fitting selection of music with a blend of sensitivity and rousing spirit. Their title for the service was ‘A Salute to Heroes’ A children’s choir sang four songs from the past. They sang beautifully and should be congratulated for remembering all the words. Throughout the evening films and stills were projected onto the walls on either side of the cross. These were very sad and stirred the emotions. Now we must accept that wars continue all over the world so we include more recent heroes in our prayers. There are 73,000 veterans in Devon. This was a special evening in a church that