Skip links

Pencil cases for Uganda – 23 October, 2012

Pencil cases for Uganda – 23 October, 2012

in Tags

Warrington’s Soroptimists regularly provide help to a school in Uganda. This year help comes in the form of a pencil case for every child, filled with pencils, pens, erasers and other supplies. We got together for a social night filling the pencil cases and packing them into a suitcase. The club will pay the excess baggage charges when this is taken to Uganda.

World Wide Smiles – 18 September, 2012

World Wide Smiles – 18 September, 2012

in Tags

Warrington Soroptimists raise money each year for a charity nominated by the club president. For 2012-13, president Margaret Carr nominated World Wide Smiles, a tiny charity dedicated to bringing smiles to those suffering as a result of man-made or natural disasters. Run by clowns, the charity works to raise morale in places where the children and adults have little to smile about. Past tours have included visits to hospitals and orphanages in Russia, Poland and Romania; working with the Mother Therese Foundation in the Romany Gypsy settlements in Romania, visiting schools, gypsy camps, orphanages and a retreat for battered women in Kosovo, working with homeless children after the tsunami in Sri Lanka and visiting Kolkata, in India, with SEED to help slave-labour children, street children and railway children. Later this year World Wide Smiles plans to visit Kenya. As a very small charity, fundraising can

White Ribbon Baton Relay – 7 July, 2012

White Ribbon Baton Relay – 7 July, 2012

in Tags

Warrington was the site of a regional Soroptimist event as the White Ribbon Campaign’s baton relay passed through the town. Domestic violence increases at times of big sporting events. To raise awareness of this, the White Ribbon Campaign sent a baton around the country with it arriving in London for the start of the 2012 Olympic Games. The Warrington club is part of the South Lancashire region of Soroptimist International. Working with other clubs in the region, representatives of various organisations working to eliminate domestic violence, the police, the north west bikers and Tesco, we helped give the baton a good send-off on its way to Newcastle-Under-Lyme in Staffordshire. The club presented the bikers with white ribbons to wear on the ride. Soroptimists also gave out leaflets and postcards to shoppers at Tesco and spoke to people about the campaign. Tesco provided bacon rolls and

On the bridge – 8 March, 2012

On the bridge – 8 March, 2012

in Tags

Club members stood on London Bridge for International Women’s Day – without leaving Warrington. They gathered on the London Road bridge over the Bridgewater Canal to launch the club’s bra collection campaign for the year. The Join me on the Bridge campaign started in 2010 when women from The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda joined together on a bridge connecting their two countries, showing they could build the bridges of peace and hope for the future together. In 2011 and 2012 they were joined by thousands of people on hundreds of bridges around the world.

Networking event – 20 October, 2011

Networking event – 20 October, 2011

in Tags

Soroptimist International’s current theme is “Educate to Lead” and this was behind a networking event for women held at Statham Lodge, Lymm. Women from Warrington, Lymm, Knutsford and surrounding areas were invited to come along to find out more about successful networking, especially using social media. Networking trainer Ewan Sturman spoke on the concepts behind successful networking and helped participants think of ways that networking could improve their own businesses. Networker Pam Case looked more closely at effective ways of using social networking (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc). Together with 02’s Ann McCracken, they then sat as a panel to answer questions from the audience.  

BUILDING A BRA MOUNTAIN – 11 June, 2011

BUILDING A BRA MOUNTAIN – 11 June, 2011

in Tags

Soroptimists and Guides on the stall at Warrington market. Many of the bras were in such good condition that shoppers thought they were being sold rather than collected.     A newspaper photographer makes sure some of the more colourful bras are in shot for his picture at Warrington market. Warrington club undertook a campaign to gather unwanted bras for charity. After its launch in March, by June the project had gathered enough bras to raise a mountain of them at the Warrington markets. Bras are complex to manufacture so very few developing countries have the facilities to make their own. Secondhand bras are therefore in demand with British ones regarded as being of a high quality. The collected bras were sorted and recycled by BCR Global Textiles, which works with charities in the UK to help create employment in developing countries. The bra collection

Friendship Evening – 25 March, 2011

Friendship Evening – 25 March, 2011

in Tags

Alice in Wonderland was the theme of SI Warrington’s Friendship Evening on March 25, 2011. Our guests, which included representatives of charities we have helped, the Girl Guides and Soroptimists from other clubs, were treated to food and entertainment in the spirit of friendship. Ros Bayton, the Lewis Carroll Society’s “Alice” for 2011 gave us a reading from Alice In Wonderland and the Mad Hatters choir got toes tapping with some fun songs and plenty of audience participation.