Who are we?
Soroptimist International was founded in 1921, when eighty women formed the first Soroptimist club in Oakland, California. Since then, membership has grown to over 90,000 women across the world. This makes us the world’s largest classified service organisation for women and the only one to be recognised by the United Nations where we have a consultative status.
Our Club, was chartered in 1961 as S.I. Blackpool and incorporated S.I. Fleetwood in 2004, (to become SI Blackpool & District). We are a friendly and outward-looking group, currently involved in a range of projects including modern slavery and supporting the President’s charity.
Our club is one of 13 in the Region of North West England & Isle of Man.
Our members come from a range of backgrounds including health, law, farming, finance and education and we meet at the North Shore Golf Club in Blackpool on the third Thursday of the month. Here is a flavour of just some of the things we get up to through our Soroptimism.
- One of our Club members has served on the Rossall Hospital League of Friends for many years and is joined by fellow Club members in serving the needs of the hospital
- We provide a team of members to record the Talking Newspaper for the Blind each month
- Three of our members represent the Club on the fundraising committee of the Lancashire Life Education Centres which offer teaching about healthy lives and avoidance of substance abuse in schools throughout Lancashire
- Girl Guiding is our Treasurer’s passion and we link up with these young women to give service to various projects around the area.
- Another of our members is also a volunteer with Healthwatch Blackpool
- We also have members who have been volunteering their services to the NHS during the Covid 19 pandemic, via helping to make scrubs and masks, assisting with track and trace and becoming vaccinators.
We are committed to a world where women and girls together are able to achieve their individual and collective potential, realise aspirations and have an equal voice in creating strong, peaceful communities worldwide. We hope to inspire action and create opportunities to transform the lives of women and girls through a global network of members and international partnerships.
To read more about the History of our club please click on the following link:
SI Blackpool Club History