President’s Message
Welcome to the website of Soroptimist International Reigate and District.
I hope that you will find all the information about us on these pages but I would like to tell you briefly about our Club, its members and our aims.
The Club was founded in 1963 and our present day membership is 30. We are a diverse, lively and active group of women who use our skills and talents to make a difference to the lives of others.
We are committed to service for local, national and international communities. Hopefully we work effectively to achieve our goals. We call our voluntary work Programme Action and this is the reason for being a Soroptimist. It reflects the Vision and the Mission of Soroptimist International.
I am delighted to be President of Reigate and District for the year 2010 – 2011. The charity I have chosen to support this year is St Catherine’s Hospice in Crawley and I am hoping that our fundraising will help the hospice to continue to offer their services to all who need it.
Our international focus is the Quadrennial Project Sierra. This is a partnership with Hope and Homes for Children in Sierra Leone supporting women, families and children through challenging circumstances.
We not only fundraise – many of our members are involved in service projects such as other voluntary organisations in the area, governors at local schools, trustees on the Board of Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid, visiting and supporting Gatwick detainees, involvement in copying tapes for the East Surrey Talking Newspapers, Age Concern, CVS etc. Our members come from a wide range of professions and their interests reflect this.
We have Friendship Links with eight other Soroptimist clubs throughout the world and we are able to extend our knowledge of those people and the particular focus for their Programme Action Work.
As a Club we are keen to raise awareness in a variety of issues, for example, the slave trade of human trafficking and the plight of women and girls in many areas of the world. We can do this by lobbying and having a presence at local events such as the Reigate Priory Community Festival in June.
The Club has a monthly dinner meeting at Reigate Manor Hotel and we have a variety of after dinner speakers lined up for the next year. We also have several social events planned in addition to fund raising events. Please see our diary for further details.
I have already mentioned the serious aim of the club but we also manage to enjoy ourselves with much fun and friendship.
If you would like to learn more about our club please contact us by email sireigate@yahoo.co.uk
I shall be pleased to meet you and invite you to one of our events.
Shirley Cotton
President
Soroptimist International Reigate and District