President’s message

 President Cherry Povall was installed as the Regional President at our recent Federation Conference in Brighton.  Cherry is a member of the Birkenhead Club, is a Local Government Councillor and very active within the community. 

Cherry says:

‘Thank you for electing me as your Regional President for 2011-2012.  I hope that I will be able to represent you well and continue to take our Region forward.  We face some daunting challenges as Soroptimists, of which the most frequent is hearing that awful lament:

‘What is a Soroptimist – I’ve never heard of you!’

My challenge during the year ahead is to make sure that thousands more people have heard of us and what a fantastic organisation we belong to.  Let’s aim to triple our membership!

We have made a great start during Jacquie’s year as President and I would like to continue what she has started.  I think our first attempt at having a presence at the Cheshire Show proved to be highly successful, not only in putting us on the map, but in gaining new members.  We already have a regular presence at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen and this year we hope to raise our profile even further and to have stands at other local shows and events.

To realise this aim I plan to strengthen the role of the Media Officer and propose also to set up a Regional Fund to pay for the publication of leaflets and posters with which to promote ourselves.

I also plan, with the support of the Membership and Development Officers, to put on a Road Show that may be used to recruit new members.  Our goal is to have, once again, a club in the City of Chester and if readers would be interested please do contact us and leave your details via the Contact Us page on this site.

I am passionate about Programme Action and firmly believe it is the bedrock of our existence.  I am also a ‘hands on’ Soroptimist and believe that making a difference through our Programme work is what we are all about.  Having fun and friendship are a vital part of being a Soroptimist too.  Our task is to get this message out to the world at large!

Just one of the special fun activities taking place in 2012 will be the ‘Diamonds are Forever’ Cruise on the River Dee in Chester on Thursday, May 31^st.  For this event we will be joined by our Federation President Maureen Maguire, as we help to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen’.