09 December 2015 - Almost a full complement of Garstang Soroptimist members gathered at the Crofters Hotel on Wednesday night for a very festive Christmas party. The theme was "Glitter and Sparkle" - and we certainly did! Members donned their most glittery outfits and Christmas jumpers to put on a real show of Christmas spirit, and Lesley went the whole hog with her reindeer antlers.

The food was excellent (as usual!) ... Nicola's team providing a range of dishes that  everyone agreed were delicious.

The evening concluded with the distribution of the Secret Santa gifts and Christmas cards and everyone went home feeling that the Christmas  celebrations had really started.

PS. and Joan really did appreciate her novelty gift of the "Introducing Computers" book published in 1981 - it is currently her bedtime reading material!

7/8 December 2015 - Once again this year, members donned their aprons to cook the many pans of parched peas needed to sell over the two nights at the Garstang Victorian Festival. The Victorian Festival is a highlight of our year and we enjoy seeing faces old and new, all keen to try our peas.  For many, many years now we have been regular attendees at the Festival and we are always in the same spot in the alleyway next to ‘Iced’, so people know where to find us.

Monday saw a run on the peas and the ladies had sold up by seven o’clock, but on Tuesday we worked at a more sedate pace and it was 8.30 before we packed up.  But what an excellent two nights we had, our charity this year was ‘Wateraid’, somewhat ironic considering all the rain we have had in the area lately, but we raised around £165, that’s a lot of cups of peas!

Besides our peas we annually donate a hamper of Christmas goodies, for raffling by the Festival Committee both before and on the days of the Festival.  Somewhat embarrassingly one of our members won it back this year, but it raised a very credible £191, so we were doubly happy.