SI Burnley Projects

Each Soroptimist International club identifies the needs of its community, then establishes specific projects to address these needs. All our projects relate to one or more of the six Programme Focus Areas: Economic and Social Development, Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights and the Status of Women, and International Goodwill and Understanding.

More information is available in the Our Work pages, where you can read more about the current Programme Focus aims and the Quadrennial Project, supported by all clubs in the Federation.

The projects listed below include some of the local and international issues we research and support in SI Burnley:

Sensory Trolley

We had been raising funds to provide a Sensory Garden for Ridgewood Community school. The school caters for children with a range of disabilities. Picture shows Treasurer, Margaret Monckton (left) and President Barbara Murray (rght) presenting the chequ

Our immediate past president Geraldine took the initiative and during her year of office organised a sponsored Stride or Stroll in Towneley Park to raise funds as well as applying for grants from various bodies, some of which were successful. President Barbara wanted to continue with the support and had intended re-vamping a storage container which held the children's play items but then the local education authority dropped a bombshell. The school would have to move premises within the next couple of years. We worked with the teachers to determine the best way to spend the money which we had raised but which could be re-located to the new premises. They came up with the suggestion of a Sensory Trolley which could be used inside or outside. We hope to continue our support for the school during this presidential year.

Burnley Women's Refuge

Burnley Soroptimists have been supporting Burnley Women's Refuge for a number of years.

Pat Hooton - a former member of SI Burnley and ex-Regional President - became the Fund-raiser at the Refuge when she was forced to resign from her post at Alder Hey Children's Hospital through ill health.

Pat spoke to the club members about the needs of ladies who were admitted at the Refuge. Her request at that time was for Welcome Packs for the women - who often arrived in haste from a domestic violence situation.

Over the years the needs have changed and last year club member Sylvia Thornton kindly hosted a Coffee Morning at her home which raised enough money to buy two leather settees for a newly re-furbished family room at the Refuge. Immediate Past President Geraldine and President Barbara were among the guests of honour at the official opening.

The Refuge co-ordinator spoke to the club members earlier this year and identified areas where we could continue to support the women and children. Her request resulted in a large amount of children's clothing and other items being given to the residents and this will continue throughout the year.

School in Osogbo, Nigeria

SI Burnley member Marlies Oloyede and her Nigerian born husband, Ajax, were warmly welcomed by SI Osogbo members and other Soroptimists on a visit to Nigeria late last year.

Before they left, German born Marlies had been busy knitting scarves to raise money to give to SI Osogbo. They had already supported an SI Osogbo Mother and Baby unit initiative. On this occasion, they decided they wanted to use it for an SI Osogbo project at a school for disabled children. By the time she left, Marlies had raised £200 for the project with her knitting skills. Marlies and Ajax were so impressed by the work of the Osogbo Soroptimists at the school that they brought the needs of the young pupils to the attention of the Burnley club members. As a result, we sent off reams of Braille paper for the school's Braille machines. Marlies told the Burnley clubsisters that a sick bay with a room for the boys and a room for the girls was also urgently needed. (Photo shows Marlies with the trowel laying the foundation stone for the sick bay at the school alongside SI Osogbo President Funmi - nearest the camera.) Late last year the Burnley club had a quiz night and raised over £500 which was increased to £580 due to the generosity of club members.

In May, Ajax returned to Nigeria and presented the money to the Osogbo Soroptimists on our behalf and we have recently posted off a large number of white canes along with other items to help the young blind pupils.

President Barbara is keen to continue the support to the school and has sceduled another quiz night into the programme for later in the year. Marlies has also kindly offered to host a series of lunches for the club members and friends to raise even more funds for this deserving school. We have asked President Funmi of SI Osogbo what other items would help the young pupils.

Make Poverty History

Make Poverty History was one of the main charities of Immediate Past President Geraldine.

Geraldine held events during her year of office not only to raise funds for Make Poverty History but also to raise awareness of the three critical areas - trade, debt and aid. (See separate Fairtrade Project.) Members of SI Burnley continue to support Make Poverty History initiatives. SI Burnley club member, Mary Schofield, will retire in late June after 27 years as a volunteer at the Burnley Oxfam shop when the shop finally closes its doors.

Comfort Packs

Members of SI Burnley have been collecting items or donating money to provide comfort packs, clothing, towels and bed linen to women fleeing forced marriages.

IPP Geraldine and her sister Anne - SI Burnley's Programme Action Co-ordinator - attended a Regional meeting where a member of the Burnley police Community Safety and Minorities team spoke to the group about the problem of forced marriages in the Asian community. Afterwards the Burnley members approached the speaker to ascertain what was needed most urgently for these women victims. They brought the information back to the club. Various members offered donations and Anne has co-ordinated the efforts.

Burnley is one of the areas to benefit from a new Crown Prosecution Service initiative. There have been several high profile killings of young Asian women in Britain who refused to marry or "fell in love with the 'wrong' man". On June 20th, the Government announced that Pilot projects are to be trialled in London, Lancashire, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands.

Under the CPS scheme, each team will be trained by a number of different agencies including the police and the government's forced marriage unit. Staff would be trained to enable them to deal better with witnesses who may be reluctant to give evidence.

Lancashire's Chief Crown Prosecutor, Robert Marshall, said: "Cases involving so called honour crime are often difficult to investigate and prosecute because they happen within a family setting. Nonetheless, there has been a growing number of successful prosecutions around the country. There is clearly no honour in committing very serious criminal offences in the misguided belief that they will protect a family's reputation."

The United Nations suggests that 5,000 women a year die worldwide as a result of forced marriages which is equivalent to 13 a day. In Britain, police put the rate at one a month (Source: Independent June 17th 2007) but support groups believe the true figure is much higher, and rising. They point to the suicide rate among Asian women aged 16-24, which is three times the national average and believe many of those are driven to kill themselves either in shame, fear or despair.

The Burnley club members are committed to providing vital items to support local victims fleeding from the pressures of a forced marriage.

Fair Trade

Local MP Kitty Ussher is leading an initiative to enable Burnley to become a fair-trade town and Burnley Soroptimists have been involved since the initial explorative meeting.

The MP said it was clear from her mailbag that it was something that her constituents wanted and it was "the right thing to do to give a guaranteed income to subsistence farmers throughout the world."

SI Burnley Programme Action co-ordinator, Anne Farry and another member attended the initial meeting where the MP asked for suggestions and proposals from the members of the various church groups and voluntary organisations who attended the meeting.

Many suggestions were offered and information was exchanged. More meetings took place and much progress has been made since then with many large employers, shops, cafes and restaurants now offering fair-trade produce to their staff and customers.

Burnley Soroptimists continue to support the campaign and Fair Trade initiatives. We hope that the Council will pass a resolution and enable Burnley to fulfil the criteria to become a Fair Trade town before the next Fair Trade fortnight.

Reduce the use of Plastic Carrier Bags

Members of SI Burnley have a commitment to reduce the use of plastic bags and superfluous packaging.

We made some enquiries with a local supported employment agency to establish the feasibility of producing our own Bags for Life but it was impracticable.

Undaunted, President Barbara took a template to Egypt when she visited recently on holiday. Good quality Egyptian cotton is reasonably priced and local fair trade workers can make the bags. Unfortunately, the suitcase containing the template was wrongly tagged by a distracted Manchester airport check-in clerk and flew instead to Larnaca in Greece and Doha in Qatar before finally arriving in Luxor, Egypt and being re-united with President Barbara ELEVEN DAYS LATER - a little over two days before her return flight. There just wasn't enough time to show it to the people who may have been able to make the bags and then screenprint them with the right words.

She says she was unwilling to leave it to the lady doing the sewing and the man printing in case she had to try to dispose of 40+ Bags for Life with a motif for SI "Bumley" which is too close for comfort to SI "Burnley" in a foreign script.

We haven't given up!! The template is currently in a baggage store in Egypt and our President will try again on her next visit.

Watch this space for the progress of SI Burnley's own "Bags for Life" - but we are still very committed as a club to the reduction of the use of plastic carrier bags and superfluous packaging.

Clean Water

The SI Burnley Programme Action committee in particular and the club members in general are committed to raising awareness of clean water issues.

At a recent club meeting, a modest amount was raised to send to the World Water initiative. Club member, Judith Nesbitt, devised a quiz which proved that most people can not tell the difference between cheap and expensive bottled water and few people could distinguish it from local tap water! There was great hilarity at the club when she announced there would be a water sampling and members should bring their taste buds. This was mis-heard as members would have their water tested and should bring a sample. Order was eventually restored and the situation clarified!!

On the evening, members tasted a number of samples of water in unmarked bottles. The winner of the competition was required to identify Perrier, Evian and other bottled waters alongside Burnley, Nelson and Skipton tap water. She only managed to identify three correct sources of the water - all of them tap water - and admitted that it was because they all smelt of various strengths of Chlorine! No other club member got more than two correct answers which was a surprise considering the cost of some of them.

During President Barbara's year, IPP Geraldine and Programme Action co-ordinator sister Anne have kindly offered to host a Wine into Water fund-raiser to co-incide with World Water day 2008. See club programme for exact date.

Contact Centre

Members of SI Burnley have been working in partnership with other local Soroptimist clubs for a number of years to provide support for a Contact Centre where the children of estranged parents can meet the absent parent in a safe environment.

Following the Lord Chancellor's Department's "Making Contact Work" document in March 2001 and the responses collated by the Children's Act Sub Committee of the L.C.'s Advisory Committee on family law, various initiatives were implemented.

There were numerous cases reported where divorced or estranged parents deliberately and repeatedly flouted the terms of contact rulings specified by the courts.

A Contact Centre was established in Accrington and Soroptimist groups in the area were asked to provide a rota of volunteers to facilitate and monitor the contact.

A number of SI Burnley club members have had police CRB checks and conscientiously attend the contact centre every six weeks or so. IPP Geraldine, a local solicitor, is on the Executive Committee for the Contact Centre and is the link person for the SI members. Club members Marie Diggle, Anne Farry, Ann Haddock, Valorie Halstead and Judith Nesbitt have all given their services to this very worthwhile project.

At the present time, there are some difficulties with the existing premises and it is hoped that a more suitable venue can soon be found to continue this essential service.

SI Burnley are committed to continue their support to the Project.

Pendleside Hospice

The Pendleside Hospice has been supported by members of SI Burnley since its inception. Our longest serving and Honorary member, Miss Muriel Jobling MBE, was the leading light for many years and laid the foundation stone in 1996.

IT is 10 years since Pendleside Hospice first opened its doors to care for the people of Pendle and Burnley.

Miss Jobling is now the President of Hospice Care for Burnley and Pendle. This week (June 2007) she and chairman Mr David Brown cut a cake to mark the 10th anniversary at a tea party at a local hotel attended by staff and volunteers. This was followed by an evening celebration at the hospice.

A number of SI Burnley club members besides Miss Jobling have given and some continue to give voluntary service at Pendleside Hospice - among them Kathleen Ashworth; Sheila Clay; Valorie Halstead; Margaret Monckton and Nora Simpson MBE.

Every SI Burnley club president has held at least one fund-raising event for the Pendleside Hospice and some club members or relatives have had need of the palliative care it provides.

It is the main charity of President Barbara this year - who had always known of the vital service the hospice provided but saw at first hand the immediate, unconditional and impeccable service given to a neighbour.

Besides this year's fund-raising events in aid of the hospice, every club member has been given a yellow Piggy Bank to collect loose change throughout the year.

Pendleside Hospice is a continuing project wholeheartedly supported by SI Burnley.