Soroptimist International Bath and District

We were delighted to present a cheque for £200 to Wiltshire Air Ambulance.  We were also given a guided tour around the station and able to see inside the helicopter and also the operations room where all the information is gathered.  It is very impressive and gives an insight to the valuable work that the charity does.

Club members and partners celebrated Christmas with a lovely meal at the Hall and Woodhouse restaurant where we hold our meetings. This was our December social event and we all made donations towards the International President’s Appeal which is always marked on 10th December, International Peace Day.

Christmas shoe boxes dontaed by club members were given to Cathy Adcock from Julian House so that they can be delivered to Bath’s Women’s refuge this Christmas. 15 boxes were packed full with goodies.

Club members and guests joined us for a walk around Bath ‘Reclaiming the night” making the streets safer for women and ending violence against women.  We had a good response from the public whilst we handed out ‘Love me, love me not’ bookmarks to emphasise what a good relationship is and what a bad relationsbip feels like.

Father Christmas is a staunch supporter for our very important cause.

Immediate Past President Helen was very happy to present a cheque for £800 fundraised by the club over a year through various activities and fundraising events.  John Davies gave us an insight to the future of Dorothy House which will be a challenge but will be so beneficial to future patients.

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3 members from our club attended the Annual Soroptimist Conference in Liverpool for 2 days.  We had interesting speakers including Emily Rose Yates, Sally Kettle, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Helen Pankhurst to name but a few.

We met up with our Friendship Club from High Wycombe and District and we were there to support the volunteers who are going to lead our Region, South West and Channel Islands for 2018/19.

President Helen handed over the reins to President Diane at the last supper meeting. Helen has been the President for the last 18 months . Waiting in the wings is our President Elect Jenny James who will take over  in April.

We held a Neal’s Yard party at a member’s house and managed to raise £365 for the RUH charity appeals. The folowing day we were able to present Lauren Noble, the Community Fundraiser at the hospital with the cheque after Lauren gave a very interesting talk at our supper meeting.

This charity was set up  by Jane Walker, MBE to help build businesses for women in the Philippines .  We collect ring pulls from cans and they are sent to the women who turn them into beautiful items which helps pay for their children to be fed and educated.

There were only a few decorations left when this photo was taken as they were so popular.

SI St Austell shared one of their successful projects with the rest of the regional clubs at today’s meeting showcasing the use of soft loans to women worldwide with huge success stories.  They were wearing T shirts saying ‘Deeds not Words’ on the front and on the back ‘Women and Empower’.