Message from new President Ann Hawkes

I take over as Club President following a very exciting year under the guidance of Alison Tupman who has certainly, with her enthusiasm and commitment, helped to secure the clubs continuing growth.

I hope to build on this momentum by continuing to attract new members who are willing to share in our aims to expand the programme action work and make new contacts with other organisations to strive to improve the lives of women and children.

With this is in mind we will carry on our association with the 2 local Women’s Refuges we have been supporting in a very practical way for a number of years, by our regular collections of household goods, clothing and toys that we know are needed and very much appreciated.  We are also exploring other methods of liaising with refuges and domestic abuse projects to provide further practical help and support.

In order to achieve the Soroptimist declared aim to expand the influence and work of soroptimism we expect to develop contracts with local guides and other organisations in the UK and to build on our links with the Soroptimists in Mumbai so they may continue to develop the much needed work they undertake within their community.

We meet to conduct the business of the club at Tapton Hall on the first Monday in the month and then we meet at the Hallamshire Golf Club for our Supper and Speaker Evenings, usually on the third Tuesday in the month.  We have always managed to find excellent speakers, who have, over the years, inspired, informed and amused us – I hope to be able to continue this tradition.

As part of the development of the clubs aims we plan to take time on a regular basis during our Business meetings to extend our Programme Action work, part of which will include inviting speakers to make presentations on subjects connected with our core aims.

My charities this year will be ‘Kids Out’, a small national charity that is dedicated to bringing fun and happiness into the lives of disadvantaged children by innovative projects, and a local charity, ‘Lost Chord’, which is successfully improving the well being of dementia sufferers by the use of musical stimuli. 

We will be organising several fundraising events – including another evening of Opera on 21 October, following on from the  splendid success of last year event, a Summer Garden Party, to be once again most generously hosted by one of our members and, possibly, a Fashion Show – watch this space!

I am proud to say that we have a committed and talented group of ladies in this club who I know will ensure it will continue to thrive and thereby enable the club to continue to make a mark in this city and in the wider world of Soroptimism.

Ann Hawkes

3 May 2011