Welcome to SI Thames Valley
Soroptimist International – what does it mean?
The name Soroptimist was coined from the Latin soror meaning sister, and optima meaning best. Soroptimist is perhaps best interpreted as ‘the best for women’. From the founding of the first Soroptimist club in Oakland, California, in 1921, through to the present day where over 3000 clubs are flourishing throughout the world, Soroptimists have continued to strive to achieve ‘the best for women’ in every sphere of their lives.
All Soroptimists are members of the umbrella organisation Soroptimist International, which is a world-wide organisation for women in management and the professions, and who want to make a difference. The Soroptimist movementis truly international, and whether at home or abroad, on business or pleasure, a Soroptimist’s card and badge will give her entry to clubs all over the world.
SI Thames Valley Club was chartered in 1990, and is part of the London Chilterns Region of the Federation of SI Great Britain & Ireland. The club usually meets in the Lantern Room of Bourne End Library (next to the Community Centre), SL8 5SX, at 7.30 pm on the third Tuesday of the month – but please check our Club Programme page. Members make new friends, participate in voluntary work and enjoy a variety of social events. Why not visit us to find out more about us?
Bourne End Buckinghamshire is on the Thames between Cookham and Marlow, accessible from the M4 and M40 and by rail (branch line from Maidenhead to Marlow).
Recent Club News
Friendship Link Catch Up 2025
Soroptimist Clubs have Friendship Links with other clubs locally, nationally and internationally. The Soroptimists of…
Bourne End Fun Night 5 December 2025
The Soroptimist International Thames Valley stall brought lots of festive cheer to the Bourne End…
Promote ‘The Parent Pact’ NOW!!!
On Tuesday 21st October 2025, we were delighted to host two speakers from Smartphone Free…
Club Meeting 16 September 2025 – Domestic Violence Speakers
Rebecca Ewing and Emily Clarke are Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA) who spoke…
Amazing August in Ros Kirk’s Garden!
Our Soroptimist sister Ros had prepared so well for the flower arranging session and traditional…
Special visit to supermarket 14 July 2025
Good news! Tesco, Loudwater has now agreed to help Wycombe Women’s Aid (WWAid) with supplies…
Bourne End Fun Night 6 December 2024
There was a very Orange stall at this year’s Bourne End Fun Night. As part…
Club Meeting 19 November 2024 – Speaker: Paul Deacon, Working in Cambodia
Alison W introduced Paul Deacon, a former Wycombe Town Clerk, who retired as an International…
Kori Christmas Decorations 2024
Kori Christmas decorations and gift ideas are now available. Please click on the link for…
Club visit to Ecohub 18 July 2024
Members of the Thames Valley Soroptimist club visited the ECO Action Hub in Maidenhead, to…
SITV New recruit March 2024
At our club meeting on 19 March, we were delighted to welcome our new…
Club meeting 20 February 2024 – speaker Donna Stimson: Upcycling and the Environment
Dorothy introduced Donna, whom she has heard speak on a number of occasions about the…
Orange Cafe – Friday 23 February 2024
Ark Café turned Orange by Thames Valley Soroptimists The Methodist Church of Marlow generously allowed…
SPEAKER MEETING ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AT BOURNE END LIBRARY TUESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2023 AT 7.30PM
Join us at Bourne End Library, Wakefield Road, Bourne End SL8 5SX at 7.30pm on…
Ovarion cancer – talk on Zoom Tuesday 15 August 2023
Speaker Sylvia Pearl of Dianne Oxberry Trust Sushi welcomed Sylvia, and Gill a volunteer ambassador…
Club visit to Smart Works, Reading, 17 July 2023
Smart Works – what does this charity do? We were curious. Initially, we asked for…
Free Legal Advice Group for Domestic Violence
Mary welcomed Anna Curson, our speaker at our June meeting, and gave a brief introduction…
Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts (SDAC) – How Special Are They?
Starting in 2017, the aim of this project is to provide an independent review across…
SI London Chilterns Western Group Regional Meeting – 17 June 2023
SI Thames Valley were delighted to host the Western Group meeting at Bourne End. with…
Club Meeting May 2023 – speaker Ruth Walne, Mercy Ships
Our speaker Ruth Walne played a short video that showed the range of medical procedures…
Season’s Greetings 2022
The Ladies from Thames Valley wish all our friends a Peaceful Christmas and New Year…
Gender Based Violence – raising awareness December 2022
RAVIOLI? No! It’s bunting and was part of SI Thames Valley’s efforts to ORANGE…
Memorial Fruit Orchard for Johanna Raffan – Update August 2022
Johanna Raffan celebrating her appointment as President of Soroptimist International with members of her club…
Soroptimist Day of Action 2022
These days is it quite difficult to avoid plastic – especially single use plastic. Much…
SI Thames Valley in Orange – June 2022
SI Thames Valley is supporting the campaign Soroptimists Orange The World 25 Nov for 16…
Memorial Fruit Orchard for Johanna Raffan – update May 2022
Since SI Thames Valley launched the appeal, it has received funds from other Soroptimist clubs…
Club photoshoot and AGM 19 April 2022
Cooperation for the Jubilee! Soroptimist International of Thames Valley paused our AGM (in April)…
Helping SI Krakow with their humanitarian work
After talking to a Polish friend, one of our members contacted SI Krakow to ask…
Club Meeting March 2022: speaker Richard Poad “Grandma Flew Spitfires”
Our speaker at our March 2022 meeting was Richard Poad, from Maidenhead Heritage Centre. He…
Toilet rolls and teabags!
In their on-going support of their local Women’s Refuges , SI Thames Valley have…
New Recruits for SI Thames Valley
Featured in the photo above are SI Thames Valley’s four new recruits who officially joined…
Tree planting – December 2021
Three club members planted a Conference pear at Blind Lane Recreational Ground mini orchard…
SITV 30th Anniversary Charter Lunch held on 21 November 2021
First planned for 30 March 2020 and after several postponements, we finally celebrated the Pearl…
Season’s Greetings 2021
SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM SI THAMES VALLEY Wishing all our friends and sister Soroptimists a…
Club meeting: speaker David Whitaker, Travel Agent to the Stars
David Whitaker was introduced to the club by Anne Arton. David gave a lively talk,…
Memorial Fruit Orchard for Johanna Raffan
To pay tribute to the memory and achievements of our founding member, and President of…
#WhoIsShe? – August 2021
Featured in August #WhoIsShe? is our late member and Federation President Johanna M Raffan MBE….
Club meeting 20 July 2021 at Cliveden
At last – a face to face meeting! On one of the hottest summer days,…
Federation President Johanna M. Raffan, MBE
It is with much sadness that we learnt of the death of Federation…
Celebrating 100 years of Soroptimism with SI London Chilterns Region
Members of SI Thames Valley joined SI London Chilterns Region’s Zoom Conference and Celebration on…
How can you get personally involved to save our environment?
SI Thames Valley found out when our PA Officer Sushi Gow invited Summreen Sheikh of…
Come and help us celebrate SITV’s Pearl Anniversary on Sunday 21 November 2021
Join us to celebrate Thirty Years of services to women locally, within Great Britain and…
15 June 2021 – Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Guests from other Soroptimist clubs joined members for this meeting. Club Secretary Alison welcomed the…
Club Meeting May 2021 – speaker from Greenpeace UK
A special welcome was extended to a number of guests including Regional President Helen Byrne…
Join the fight against Modern Slavery – March 2021
Do you recognize the signs of modern slavery? Do you know how to report them…
Greetings from SI Val-Brabant – February 2021
I have just sent by post, an anniversary card which had been signed by most…
January 2021 – speaker Ann Beatty from the Steve Sinnott Foundation
Back again on Zoom! Our January meeting was once again via Zoom. We had a…
Wycombe Women’s Aid – update December 2020
Once again, prior to Christmas. SI Thames Valley provided shoping vouchers for the 12 residents…
UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2020
Recently, members of Soroptimist International in the Thames Valley joined hundreds of people from around…
Not Just A Princess
How would life be if you woke up tomorrow as the opposite gender? I am…
#WhoIsShe – November 2020
As part of the celebration of the first centenary of Soroptimist International in 2021, more…
October 2020 – SIGBI Federation President 2020/2021 Johanna Raffan
SI Thames Valley are delighted that our member Johanna Raffan has taken office as SIGBI…
Speaker meeting via Zoom – Tuesday 20 October 2020 – Kaleidoscopic UK
Speaker Vicki Robertson, Founder and Chair of Kaleidoscopic Kaleidoscopic: turning the lens on domestic…
September 2020 – Business Meeting followed by fun
Club members gathered via Zoom for a brief business meeting, followed by socialising and fun….
August 2020 – Afternoon tea for Breast Cancer Now
Club members and friends met – some via Zoom – for tea and a quiz…
Day of Action 2020
This year’s Soroptimist Day of Action on 18th July gives us the opportunityto reflect…
April 2020 – Annual General Meeting
Our March meeting was cancelled, so we were delighted to meet via Zoom on 21…
February 2020 – Workaid
We welcomed Roger Lane from Workaid, accompanied by his wife Cherry who had been brought…
January 2020 – Oxfam
We welcomed two speakers from Oxfam who gave us a very informative talk about the…
November 2019 – Somaliland and FGC
At our November meeting, we were delighted to welcome Katy Newell-Jones who has spoken to…
October 2019 – Federation President Elect 2019-2020
SI Thames Valley member Johann Raffan took office as President Elect for 1029-2020 of Soroptimist…
Friendship Link meeting August 2019
SI Weston-super-Mare, our friendship link, organised a lovely sunny day for our get-together in Bath…
July 2019 – Club Garden Party
Members paraded their hats, played croquet, boules, hoopla and enjoyed a scrumptious bring and share…
Bourne End Community Centre Open Day 8 June 2019
We were pleased to support the Community Centre by taking part in their Open Day….
A box full ….for Kori
A BOX FULL OF…………………………………. ……………bras and pants is the latest object to fill…
April 2019 – Her policing career
Phyllis Sigsworth – a Soroptimist for over 55 years – spoke about her long career…