SI Bournemouth and Bournemouth University held a thought-provoking, stimulating and highly successful conference on June 29th, 2023 focussing on issues relating to violence against women and girls. Two hundred delegates participated and listened to amazing presentations by True Honour (honour killing), Unity in Vision (female genital mutilation) and White Ribbon (men’s perspectives on VAWG) in addition to attending workshops. The key note session was an ‘in conversation’ one led by Kate Adie CBE (previous Chief News Correspondent at the BBC and the Chancellor of Bournemouth University) with Paula Harriott, Head of the Prison Reform Trust. Paula revealed that she had been in a coercive and chaotic marriage that led to her imprisonment for four years on drugs charges; it was a sobering discussion but one that has led her to have positive insights into how the prison system needs to be changed especially in relation

In 2017 Dame Vera Baird KC, then the Police and Crime Commissioner for the area, initiated a unique partnership between SIGBI and criminal justice partners in Northumbria. She engaged local Soroptimists in an observation project in which they watched over 220 sessions of the Specialist Domestic Violence Courts (now Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts), answering a range of questions in particular about how the largely female victims were treated. The results uncovered serious failings and shortcomings in these courts. These were then analysed to produce a report in 2018 asking: “Specialist Domestic Violence Courts: How Special Are They?”. That work provided the foundation to replicate the same initiative in Wiltshire in 2018 and in the Midlands in 2020 and throughout many other areas of England in 2022. The collective reports together show something very close to a comprehensive report on the way in which the Specialist

On Monday June 19th, Christelle Attisso was inducted to SI Bournemouth as our fourth new member in 2023. President Kiera Mauro shared the duties of Soroptimists, offered the right hand of friendship and gave Christelle her badge and information pack. Members enthusiastically welcomed Christelle; we are delighted that she has joined us and are sure she will make a significant contribution to the club.   If you are interested in this and would like to come along to a Soroptimist International Bournemouth meeting to find out more, please email us at sigbibournemouth@hotmail.co.uk.

As part of the National Garden Scheme, Phil Broomfield head gardener at the Russell-Cotes, took a group of SI Bournemouth club members and family/ friends around the garden on June 10th explaining the history of the house and its grounds. Merton Russell-Cotes owned the adjacent Royal Bath Hotel and built the Victorian villa next to it for his wife, Annie, as a birthday present in 1902. When they passed away the house was left to the town of Bournemouth filled with treasures that they collected during their travels around the world. This included cuttings from several plants that still exist in the garden today including a willow tree which originated at the grave of Napoleon on the island of St Helena. Phil had many interesting stories to tell and brought the garden to life on the tour. We ended it with a cream tea in

St Peter’s Catholic Primary School in Bournemouth has completed the single use plastic challenge in fine style. The Eco Council, comprising children from every year group, met to judge the posters submitted by pupils and selected the best entrant for each year. SI Bournemouth launched the challenge at the school in the autumn term, asking children to create posters capturing good ideas about how to avoid, replace or recycle plastic in their daily lives. The results were creative and thought provoking, as were those in the other three schools where we supported competitions (Hill View, Christchurch Infants and Talbot Primary). SIB provided the winners with a certificate and a book token for their efforts. Well done to everyone who took part! If you are interested in this or other similar projects and would like to come along to a Soroptimist International Bournemouth meeting to find

SI Bournemouth was invited to have a stand and to present at the ‘Harmony in the Community 2’ conference at Bournemouth University on June 6, 2023. This initiative was launched by Michael Dooley, previous High Sheriff of Dorset, and Nigel Hedges, ex- Chairman of BCP Council, in 2022 to bring together organisations across the county to share their good work and outcomes. The participants were welcomed to the conference by four Ukrainians in their national dress, singing beautiful ‘a capella’ songs in their native language. It was the start to an inspiring day where two members of our club were able to network, learn more about local projects, share our endeavours and generate interest in Soroptimism. We were lucky to have Terry Waite, humanitarian and hostage negotiator, share his story of being held captive for almost five years in the Lebanon. There were certainly lessons

Bobbie White, long standing member of SI Bournemouth, was recently in New Zealand and attended the annual Conference of Clubs at SI Aotearoa New Zealand. It was held in March 2023 in Rotorua where the 19 clubs in New Zealand from both north and south islands participated.  Bobbie was invited to process with the Union flag with several well-known SI members. Yvonne Simpson (Past President Soroptimist International) carried the UN flag, Christine Johnstone (Federation President SI Southeast Asia Pacific) the Australia flag and Deborah Wood (President SI Aotearoa New Zealand) the New Zealand flag. Bobbie was also honoured to be able to wear the Māori cloak worn previously by Yvonne Simpson and felt very special indeed! If you are interested in this or other similar projects and would like to come along to a Soroptimist International Bournemouth meeting to find out more, please email us

Kiera Mauro was elected President of SI Bournemouth on April 24, 2023 and her very first job in post was to induct three new members to the club. Jenny Dvorak, Anne Mynors-Wallis and Gail Moneypenny were welcomed enthusiastically by all as they each bring life experience, skills and energy to Soroptimism. Kiera shared the duties of Soroptimists with each in turn, offering the right hand of friendship and giving them their badges and information packs. We are delighted to have them on board ! If you are interested in this or other similar projects and would like to come along to a Soroptimist International Bournemouth meeting to find out more, please email us at sigbibournemouth@hotmail.co.uk.

This year saw our 10th STEAM Challenge for girls in years 8 and 9 take place. Participants need to come up with an initiative, device or project that will help to improve the lives of women and girls in other parts of the world. They work in small teams, develop a project plan, and then pitch the idea to experts in the field having created a prototype to support the concept. There was a video shown at the finals of some of the girls who have taken part in the past ten years highlighting how influential the process had been in their subsequent study and career choices. It is a positive opportunity to encourage young women to use their full potential, engaging in roles that would have been seen as the purview of men in the past. The project links to United Nations SDGs 5

In addition to Hill View Primary, now Christchurch Infants and Talbot Primary Schools have taken part in the club’s project to encourage children to avoid and/ or reduce single use plastic (SUP). As at Hill View (described in an earlier post), the children were introduced to the issues at their assemblies and then created posters to demonstrate creative ideas about how to deal with plastic positively. We were pleased to award seven certificates and book vouchers at Christchurch Infants; there are only three years at the school and despite their young age, they came up with some super ideas. At Talbot we awarded fourteen prizes, two per year group, and were similarly impressed by the standard of entry; choosing the winners was difficult but the eco-leaders in the school did the judging with us. Great work all! If you are interested in this or other