Our President’s party for President Sheelagh of SI Widnes was held at the Holy Family Social Club on Tuesday 23rd April which was St George’s Day.  Everyone did their best to dress in red and white for the occasion. It was attended by the Mayor of Halton, Valerie Hill, Maria from Halton Haven, members of SI Widnes, SI St Helens and SI Crosby. We had a quiz which Annette’s husband had kindly put together for us.  The quiz was followed by a Beetle Drive with a difference! As it was St George’s Day we used a dragon for St George instead of a traditional beetle.  Our President, Sheelagh, was the first to complete her dragon. President Sheelagh presented a cheque to Maria from Halton Haven for £2,300.00; the fantastic amount she has raised during her year as President.  This was gratefully received by Maria from

Monday 25th March saw members dress in orange  and adopting the ‘heart’ pose at our Business Meeting showing solidarity for the campaign to orange the world in protest against violence towards women and girls. At the meeting, President Sheelagh was delighted to enrol two new members, Jackie and Suzanne, who had both been introduced to Soroptimism by Jackie’s daughter and club member Steph. Kate Davies from Liverpool Women’s Hospital popped in to collect the Dignity Bags, Baby Bags and baby blankets and was overwhelmed with the generosity of members, members families and ‘friends of SI Widnes’.  

Our Easter bingo made a welcome return to Holy Family Social Club, Cronton on 19th March. The doors opened at 7.00pm and by 7.20 the venue was packed to capacity! Everyone enjoyed themselves and chocolates, Easter eggs, wine and much, much more were in abundance as lines, houses and raffle prizes were given away. A grand total of £850.00 was raised for Halton Haven Hospice, President Sheelagh's charity for the year. "When's the next bingo?" was the question being asked in Cronton and the surrounding areas and the answer is: The 'In The Pink Bingo' will take place on Tuesday 16th July at Holy Family Social Club, Cronton. Doors open at 7.00pm and eyes down at 7.30. Get there early to guarrantee a seat! Some of the donations for prizes received so far are: £25.00 gift voucher from Cronton Garden Centre Day passes for the

On 17th March we said a fond farewell to Wendy Ross-Barker and wished her well for her move to Scotland to be nearer her sister. Wendy had been a long standing member of the Club, Programme Action Officer for many years and will be sorely missed by one and all. Wendy was gifted a beautiful quilt and cushions in the Soroptimist colours of yellow and blue and President Sheelagh thanked Wendy for all she has done for the Club in support of women and girls.

PAUSE Following our first successful event on PAUSE where we had a raffle,which raised £120, we were invited to attend a graduation for 30 ladies. At the Belfast conference we commissioned 32 “makeup” bags from another club at a cost of £116.46, which the raffle monies will cover. The monies for the bags will go to the Kori Project, Sierra Leone. We have filled the bags with toiletries sweets and trinkets. We were given 32 sachets for tissues which were made by past Federation President Barbara Dixon prior to her death. We also included the poem below. Thank you all for your support. “standing on tiptoe and looking ahead We try to discover the path we should tread, Or looking behind us, lamenting the past We yearn for the things not intended to last Postponing the present with all that it holds We miss all

  Soroptimist International of Widnes is collecting used, new or unwanted bras for the charity ‘AGAINST breast cancer’ at our stall at the Haven Festival on Sat 1st July 2023 at the Barnyards from 11.00am. For every tonne of bras collected, the charity, ‘AGAINST Breast Cancer’, receives £700 enabling the funding of lifesaving research projects at some of the UK’s most respected academic establishments leading to improved outcomes for women throughout the world. The bras are prevented from going to landfill and are sent to small businesses in developing countries in Africa and around the world. The bras are given a new lease of life in countries such as Ghana and Kenya where bras are expensive to produce locally, and this provides an income for struggling families. Being able to access reasonably priced bras, boosts the self-esteem of women and girls in developing countries but more importantly,

Adult Skills and SI Widnes are  supporting Superdrug Pharmacies’ Little Packs, Big Impact’ scheme by collecting empty medicine blister packs. Superdrug are accepting empty tablet strip packs and working in conjunction with TerraCycle who will convert the packaging into reusable raw materials preventing empty packs spending a lifetime in landfill. What’s more, Superdrug are supporting Marie Curie for each empty blister packet that gets recycled as part of the ‘Little Packs, Big Impact’ scheme. For each kilogram of blister packets collected, Superdrug are rewarded with 100 TerraCycle points. Each point is worth £0.01 for a charity of their choice – Marie Curie. It’s easy – it’s free and it’s a double whammy – recycling and supporting a fantastic charity too.

We celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee by having a delicious afternoon tea at our Meeting on 27th June. We were joined by Kate Davies from Liverpool Women’s Hospital, who popped in to collect our second donation of women’s pyjamas for the hospital’s ‘Care in a Bag’ Appeal. Sadly, many pregnant women arrive at the hospital with heavy bleeding caused by miscarriage or other non pregnancy emergencies. The Care in a Bag project provides the women with some dignity by giving them toiletries, sanitary towels, wipes and pyjamas or leggings to wear to go home in. The demand has increased to the extent where the staff are struggling and have reached out to the local communities. This is an ongoing project and if you would like to doante items, please Contact Us.  

Our first face to face fundraising event since the pandemic took place in April this year. As we hadn’t been able to hold our usual Christmas Bingo, we opted for an Easter Bingo, which we held at Holy Family Social Club curtesy of John Brennen. Family and friends of SI Widnes joined us for this fun filled evening with line, house and quickies called and amazing prizes to be won. There was even a raffle and surprise gift bags for sale; plenty for everyone! All funds raised are for our ‘Supporting Vulnerable Local Families’ project. We also sold blue and yellow ribbons to raise money for Ukraine. The eveing was a great success and we look forward to our nect bingo at Christmas. Why not join us?

  A donation of £50 was made by the club and together with donations from members, 120 men’s toiletry items were purchased. We continue to donate clothing and linens from our homes.