The Soroptimists eventually got together on Saturday 9th November to plant the trees that Kathleen has been nurturing all Summer! Although a November day the sun shone and the sky was blue as everyone able to help came along with wellies and spades. The tree planting took place at Bickershaw Country Park and it is hoped that more trees will be planted in the future.

A belated Happy New Year to everyone and here is looking forward to a new year with new opportunities. Christmas came and went with a variety of activities from the Wigan Soroptomists including Tea at the Mayor’s parlour where our new Young Achiever received her award , more details about that to follow, members continued with their Christmas Donations to the Brick and DIAS with our President Angela accompanied by Kathleen our PAC Chairman delivering the ‘goodies’ that had been kindly donated.

Angela, Wigan President, was pleased to accompany thirteen members, including five of our new members to the lunch at Statham Lodge. Incoming Regional President, Dorcas Akeju OBE, was delighted to meet so many Wigan Soroptimists. A great afternoon was had by all!

After a long 18 months when people have not been able to meet in large groups it was wonderful to see everyone sitting in the sunshine, listening to the Band and generally having a very good time- it was even warmer in the kitchen ! The main aim of the Tea at the Farm however was to raise money for Wigan Hospice and I am delighted to report that we raised over £2000.00 at the time of going to press, this was raised through ticket sales , raffle , tombola , Bric a Brac and book sales plus some very kind donations. Some pictures from the event can be seen on our Facebook page , Twitter and Instagram. Pictures will be uploaded here later.      

Soroptimist International Wigan look forward to welcoming everyone back to Tea at the Farm in August (date to be confirmed) The last farm tea was a great success click the link Summer Afternoon with Cream Tea and Cakes at Maxwell Farm August 10th

Graphine Structure At the Zoom Business Meeting in March the club had a fantastic talk from a remarkable 14 year old Ava Garside granddaughter of one of our members. Ava gave a very impressive talk about the development of a pin badge that she devised and had developed with the help of nano-scientists at Graphene@Manchester in Manchester University. The badge  could be worn to identify exposure to air pollution e.g. by pupils on their way to school to choose the least polluted route. She has been interviewed about her idea on national TV and radio. She hopes that eventually her design will be available commercially. Ava is a remarkable young woman she loves music, playing the violin  and in addition to her schoolwork is undertaking and accelerated flexible programme on entrepreneurship with MIT.