First Responders

First responders are trained volunteers who are sent out by the ambulance service if the ambulance is delayed because of a previous callout. The volunteers are sent out to people suffering heart prtoblems. They wait with patients until the ambulance arr

Two years ago it was decided to set up a local team as a programme action challenge. This was achieved by organising an open meeting, signing up local volunteers, obtaining grants and raising money by fundraising. The volunteers were trained and last year the Grange and District First Responders was up and running.

Monday 26 March is their first anniversary party

Fairtrade

Grange achieved Fairtrade Town Status in Spetember 2006

There was an open meeting at The Parish Hall in Grange in October 2005. Joe Human. who is chair of the Cumbria Fairtrade Network, was the speaker. There was a display of Fairtrade information, Fairtrade goods on sale and Fairtrade refreshments available.

At the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight in March 2006 a number of Grange Soroptimists went to a meeting in Keswick to celebrate Cumbria achieving Fairtrade County Status. George Alegiah posed for a picture with Grange Soroptimists.

As a result of a public meeting in March 2006 a committee was elected and work began to register names of individuals, businesses and organisations who support Fairtrade

Safe Houses

Items are collected by club members and are taken to safe houses locally twice a year

Wednesday Club

For several years club members have taken a young woman with Downes Syndrome from Grange to Ulverston to enjoy a weekly social club meeting

Grange Soroptimists work with Ladies’ Circle to provide this respite for carers. The project started with three young children. However, as time has passed, two of the children have grown up to achieve more independence

Mercy Ships

Mercy Ships, a global charity, has operated a growing fleet of hospital ships in developing nations since 1978.

This is one of President Jane’s charities for the year. Kay Rouse, who has spent time working with the charity during holidays, gave an inspirational talk to the club about the medical care given by volunteers. Before Kay came to the club an article in the local newspaper, Grange Now, resulted in an amazing number of new and nearly new sheets and blankets for the wards. Pens, paints and paper were also donated for children to use while they were either waiting for, or recovering from, treatment. Financial donations were also given.

Children’s Writing Workshop

Over 70 Year 5 children from five local primary schools were given the practical experience of how to write an exiting short story

On Tuesday 7 February over seventy year nine children from local schools attended a writing workshop with Alan Gibbons. This workshop was organised and funded by SI Grange over Sands and is an example of the club working pro actively with the community.

Alan Gibbons has been writing children’s books for 12 years. He is the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2000 for his best-selling book Shadow of the Minotaur. He has also been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2001 and 2003 and has won the Leicester Book of the Year Award. His books have been published in Japanese, German, Italian, French, Thai, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Swedish and other languages. So he knows what he is talking about!

The workshop addressed the current concerns with children’s writing in a wonderfully humorous style in combination with a very impressive, structured presentation. Alan Gibbons managed to keep the children absorbed for three hours. He began with telling them how he started writing and then gave them the bones of a story for them to write. ‘Ten thousand pounds.’(Two children, the narrator and a friend find a scratch card after dealing with a gang of bullies. The children then have the moral dilemma of whether or not to keep the card, having hidden it while they decide.) Alan broke the rest of the session into ten minute chunks, giving the children ideas on how to develop each situation, emphasising that the children needed to imagine how their character was feeling about the situation in which they found themselves. The children worked on their own, in pairs or in groups. At the end of the sessions Alan Gibbons taught the children some ‘scouse’ – he is from Liverpool, and told them the ‘official’ scouse version of Snow White. The children were ‘eating out of his hand’

The children will finish/polish the stories at school. Teachers will choose the best four from their school. Alan Gibbons will decide which of the stories is the overall winner and SI Grange over Sands will publish all of the short listed short stories in a booklet. Possibly with illustrations: Alan suggested that the children might like to develop the ideas in their stories by designing a film poster

Pictures from the session and examples of the work from the 5 schools will be displayed in the local library.

Children, teachers and helpers learnt a great deal from this three hour session. And everyone was entertained.

Aquabox

Aquabox containers can be bought via Rotary and then filled, ready to be sent to anywhere in the world where they are needed in a crisis

Aqua Boxes cost £50 to buy and about £120 to fill with a variety of emergency equipment. Once the box is emptied it becomes a water filter. Clean water is obviously vital for survival after any major catastrophe. Each Aquabox is given a number and its progress can be followed via the website.

This is the second Aquabox the club has sent