SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF ROSSENDALE
AN EMPOWERING inter- generational evening earned the local Soroptimist Club a north- west award.
When Soroptimist International of Rossendale Club celebrated International Day of the Girl Child, an evening was organised involving six keynote speakers representing different ages under the title This Girl’s Rising.
Each told their own story - one of the younger speakers had been bullied but now has a huge Instagram following, while a second spoke of living with Cystic Fibrosis.
Two women who had been brought up in care told how they had turned their lives around - one was a college lecturer and personal tutor and the other owns a chain of nail and beauty premises and trains young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Two Soroptimist speakers also told their story. As a child, one had been evacuated to Rossendale from Jersey during the Second
World War and stayed. She went on to revolutionise children’s services and social work, while another had been sexually abused as a child and was now a counsellor helping others
Programme Action Officer Rachel Weinhold, who jointly organised the event with current president Alison Driver said: “Each speaker had 10 minutes to tell their tale of triumph over adversity and we had other women reciting poetry.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, how you are brought up or what adversities you face, we can all succeed. We invited girls from the M3 Project, the Maden Centre in Bacup, Bacup Family Centre and SafeSpace Rossendale.
“The Boo in Waterfoot provided the room for free and we asked local businesses to donate items so all of the 25 young people in the audience each went away with a free goodie bag.
“The thing I loved most, was that we reached out to other organisations and got other people involved, and the young people really learnt a lot from it.
“The event was very thought provoking and, as with all our activities, we documented it and got feedback and all of that information was submitted to the North West Region.
“We are delighted to have just been told by Soroptimist International North
West England and Isle of Man that the Rossendale evening, which held in October, has jointly won the Darwen Shield for the Best Project with SI Garstang.”
Garstang’s project ‘ Think Pink Sri Lanka’ was a fundraiser to buy a tuk tuk.
In lockdown Rossendale Soroptimists have kept going by holding a meeting online using Zoom technology, although Rachel is one of the younger members, many are in their 80s and 90s, but half joined the meeting.
They raised more than £ 500 to buy sanitary projects for the Women’s Refuge in a link with Samara Barnes Red Box Project and from July they will all be measuring their steps to try to complete three marathons to raise money for Rossendale Hospice in memory of two Soroptimist members, Eileen Cudworth and Maureen Griffin, who recently passed away. For more information email rachelweinhold@msn. com or visit the Facebook page Rossendale Soroptimists.