Saddleworth WI End of Year News
Saddleworth WI End of Year News
Saddleworth WI End of Year News:- This month’s meeting was extremely busy, packed with items and very informative. The groups first speaker was Glenn Clarke from Oldham Food Bank who as well as telling the ladies about the operation of the charity collected from Saddleworth WI 25 bags of donations from members.
Glenn spoke of the aims of the food bank, the people they help, and the way it works. He stressed that the rumour of just being able to turn up at the Food Bank and receive a carrier bag of food is just that, “a rumour!” The customers of the food bank are always referred by doctors, social workers and other professionals. They are, at all times, treated with great respect and dignity by the staff of the food bank who work tirelessly to help the less lucky in life.
Once they receive the referral from the professional they are allocated 4 food vouchers over a 6 months period. All walks of life come through the doors and each and every one of them have a story to tell. He explained to the audience that whilst each story is sad and sometimes harrowing there are also some funny stories to tell of working at the food bank. Glenn says that the food bank is always looking for volunteers as well as donations of food. He explained that during celebration times such as Christmas and Easter donations are high but other times of the year there seems to be a drop in stock. If you want further info on the food bank visit www.oldham.foodbank.org.uk.
Cathy Wilde, a SWI Member, brought to the attention of the members and visitors that the WI Federation are running a number of programmes to raise awareness of violence and abuse against women on line. The National Federation are organising a campaign raising the issue of the ongoing increase in this type of abuse and harassment. Women and girls are 27 times more likely to experience abuse on line and everyone at SWI want to put an end to it. The WI Federation want the Government to tackle this growing problem. In April next year there will be a new cost on digital services like Facebook, Google etc. raising funds for the Government.
The Federation are asking WI groups to write to their local MP asking them to urge the chancellor to “ring fence” 1% of this cost to tackle the problem of on line abuse. SWI will be sending a letter to the Government which they will ask all members, who are in agreement, to sign. The general election has put the spanner in the works but once this has passed, this will be done and they send to our local MP.
The group also had 2 representatives from Transport Greater Manchester who talked about public transport in our area and beyond. TfGM are in the process of carrying out research into what the public want and expect from the bus service. There is a questionnaire on line that you can complete. The consultation will run from 14th October 2019 to Wednesday 8th January 2020. Visit www.gmconsult.org – tel: 0161 244 1100
The Fashion show, at the end of October, proved to be a fantastic fund raiser, and SWI once again, had a huge turnout for this annual event. Lots of the audience walked away with great bargains and £970.00 was raised. Well done to all those who attended.
On Sunday 10th November Saddleworth WI members walked up to Pots and Pans to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph on behalf of the organisation. The good weather brought out a large crowd of all ages who all paid their respects for those who had fallen during conflicts. The ceremony was very moving and emotionally charged. You could hear a pin drop during the 2 minutes silence.
2020
The Saddleworth WI are a warm and friendly group who wholeheartedly welcome new faces to their monthly meetings. So if you feel like doing something different in 2020 come along and see what they do, make lifelong friends and generally have a good time.
Saddleworth WI have plenty of events, trips, speakers and workshops planned for 2020 They have a trip to Oldham Coliseum to see and dance the night away to The Greatest Hits of Motown, a trip to a local restaurants, a class in bread making, and many more interesting items. They start the year off on Monday January 6th (this is not the usually meeting night) with their Guest Speaker, Michelle Nye. Michelle is a local Chocolatier who will be conducting a chocolate tasting during her talk – What’s not to like?
Saddleworth WI meet in the Oak Room, at the White Hart, 55 Stockport Road, Lydgate, OL4 4JJ, on the first Wednesday of each month. For further details visit them at www.saddleworthwi.com
May Saddleworth WI thank you all for your support during 2019 and the ladies would like to wish you all an early Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
