Every Christmas we make a collection of gifts for Mothers and Children who will be spending Christmas at The Haven, a refuge for women and children. A Collection of food is also made for the Good Fathers of The Little Shepherd, who distribute food every day for the homeless and needy. Wolverhampton has started a FoodBank and our Club has deceided to collect each month not just ‘for Christmas’. One of our Club Members delivers our collection to the FoodBank and as of !st March the Club has collected 100kg.

  December and time to dress the tree and share with others. Members of our newly formed Choir. Singing for our supper at the Tree Dressing in Lowlands Court. Residents of Lowlands Court enjoying a game of Bingo.  

  West Park June 20th 2012 Members of S I Wolverhampton This is our Race for Life Team who have  raised  £500 so far,  for  Soroptimists ‘R’ Pink.

To raise money for Water Aid, one of our members kindly lent her home for a ‘Wine into Water’ open day. A local market trader donated some pineapples and strawberries, various people had made marmalades and lemon curd. There was a ‘bring and buy’ section inside and outside in the garden, plants, books and games for the children. A grand total of £450 was collected.  

Wolverhampton Soroptimists collected bags full of bras and  here they are handing them over  to Jenna Wills, Regional Fundraising Manager for Oxfam in the West Midlands.   The BIG BRA HUNT is supported by Helen Mirren, Zoe Ball and Miquita Oliver, their aim is to collect one million bras. Many of these will be sold by women in West Africa providing essential employment for disadvantaged women. Bras are complex to manufacture so very few developing countries have the facilities to make their own. Our second hand ones can be refurbished and sold on, via Frip Ethique, a unique project being run by Oxfam in Senegal.

    One of our members and her dog Albi, visiting Soroptimist House with the ‘Memory Bag’.  This bag was made by one of our other members to contain various articles from the years between 1920 and 1950. The idea being to help people remember what their lives were like during that time, the items they used and the places they visited. This afternoon they were reminiscing about the schools they attended and how they travelled  there. Some people walked, some cycled and one lady used to ride a horse. Children didn’t travel to school by car in those days, in fact there were very few cars, although one lady said her father had received the third driving licence that had been issued and another learnt to drive around the farm. Longer distances were made by steam train and there would be outings in charabancs.  

  WOW – a week of events showing the Women of Wolverhampton what organisations and support systems there are available in their City.                 On International Women’s Day we went to Wolverhampton Art Gallery and joined the many local and national Women’s Groups for a day of workshops, food and entertainment.

  Susan Passmore from the Motor Neurone Disease Association, came to our March dinner meeting  to give us all a most enlightening talk on Motor Neurone Disease, what it is and how it affects peoples lives.  Currently 3 to 4 million pounds is spent on research each year. During President Julia’s year there have been various fund raising events for her charities, MND being one of them.  She is pictured here presenting Susan Passmore with a cheque for £450.  

  President Julia welcomed Club Members, relatives and friends to our biennial Burns Supper in Tettenhall Wood. Club Members wore scarves made from the Soroptimist Tartan. This was designed by Ingles Buchan in association with Soroptimist International for the Glasgow Federation Conference in 2002. The colours depict the purple heather of Scotland’s mountains together with the blue and gold of  Soroptimist International, united by the white band of peace. Everyone enjoyed the evening and over £400 was raised for the President’s charities, Footprints Orphanage near Mombassa and The Motor Neurone Disease Association.

  President Julia with Regional President Hudith Healey checking out the bargains, whilst past President Renee finds some more! £90 was raised and will be donated to the ‘Purple Teardrop  Campaign’.  (Soroptimists are campaigning to stop human trafficking). Wolverhampton is one of 14 Clubs which make up the Midland Chase Region and Judith is our Regional President. It has been a time-honoured tradition for the Regional President to come to one of our meetings to tell us a little about herself and anything else she might wish to say! By profession Judith is a Radiographer at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford. We had a most entertaining evening hearing how she has juggled bringing up  a family, working full time and being a Soroptimist.