After the continuous sunshine we seemed to have had throughout May and early June, the morning of Saturday 16th dawned grey, miserable and drizzly! However, not to be put off by a bit of rain, 3 intrepid members of SI Widnes set up a stall at Cronton Gala. Soft toys galore for our teddy tombola, which was a great success, raising £40.00 for the Alzheimer’s Society. Cup cakes and raffle tickets were on sale too as well as much loved books. We were joined in the afternoon by 2 more dedicated members of SI Widnes who kept up the good work of selling. giving out leaflets and bookmarks as well as spreading the Soroptimist word. However, all this was about to change when the heavens opened. The rain was torrential. It felt as though 6 weeks rain fell in half an hour and that quickly

The Adult team at Riverside College, Kingsway Campus Riverside College held a book collection and sale and raised over £240.00 to twin a toilet block for a school in a developing country. This will allow the children access to clean water and will enable girls to continue their education Toilet Twinning

Here are some photographs of the Membership Month event for SI Widnes. We had a stall in our local market and gave away 100 free cupcakes, made by Waterfield’s Bakery, with the SIGBI logo on. We were celebrating 100 years of women’s suffrage, selling raffle tickets for our President’s charity, Alzheimer’s Society and raising awareness of SI Widnes. Everyone concerned had a great time and enjoyed some wonderful ‘banter’ as we tried to give our cakes away for free. Who knew it was so difficult to persuade people to have something for nothing! [new_royalslider id=”5″]

Every year the members of SI Widnes host a themed party to celebrate the year of the outgoing President and this year was no exception. The theme was literacy and members and guests were invited to dress up as their favourite book character. The party took place at Widnes Masonic Hall and Pat, the caterer had made us a superb buffet supper. We were entertained by a speaker from Halton Library service (Did you know you can borrow books free of charge from Halton libraries? I didn’t!) followed by a fun quiz with a literary theme. Guests included members of SI Widnes, The Lady Mayoress, SI South Lancashire Immediate Past President, Anita Morris from Hack-Back and Presidents and members from SI Leigh and District, SI St Helens, SI Crosby and SI Southport. To close the evening, everyone who attended received a lucky dip gift and

We booked the community area and set out publicity material in this busy venue. Talking to passers-by and handing out information – practical ways of promoting Soroptimist International and women’s rights Ever-imaginative, we gave out 100 cupcakes decorated with the Soroptimist logo – edible, of course, baked by our local Waterfields store. Two members even went around the market with trays of the cakes and made some good contacts at some of the stalls. From yesteryear to today – SI Widnes is a longstanding supporter of the local women’s refuge. The accommodation has recently been refurbished, enabling new arrivals to have an apartment with a kitchen and bathroom. As the women are responsible for cleaning their apartment, the Soroptimists now provide a bucket containing cleaning materials for each new client.  

St Paul’s Church, Victoria Square, Widnes is the first organisation to join us in our attempt to make Halton the first Toilet Twinned borough in England. Vicar, Greg Sharples, and the PCC have very kindly donated a cheque to fund the building of a toilet block in a disadvantaged country. St Paul’s Church   Toilet Twinning   

President Yvonne was delighted to have the honour of presenting 3 members of SI Widnes with certificates to celebrate their long service to Soroptimism. They have been working to improve the lives of women and children locally, nationally and internationally for a grand total of 90 years between them. Congratulations Ladies!

Friends, old and new, joined us at St Basil’s Social Club on Tuesday 12th December 2017 for our annual Christmas Bingo raising money for our President’s charities.