What an honour it is to be your President. I am following on from a busy, interesting and fulfilling year. I hope you will read our Programme Action report for 2022 – 2023. Thank you to Gaynor for leading the Club over the last two years and to all the group leaders and members – a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to pull our programme together and ensure we continue to take action to stand up for women.
I first came into Soroptimist International a few years ago as someone who knew nothing about the organisation. I was introduced to the Club by Carys Brown who asked me one Sunday in church if I was doing anything on the following Wednesday. “I’d like to introduce you to something you may like!” she said…and the rest is history!
As they say ‘from little acorns great oaks grow”! It was a huge eye-opener going to conference in Belfast last year. It was incredible and interesting to hear about so many projects and to meet so many like-minded people. What really struck me was the friendship and the support for and from each other.
Our programme for the coming year is in place, with a few things still to be finalised, (SI Bridgend Programme 2023-24 electronic V1 26april2023). I know we will continue to do what we do best. My theme for the year is the Safety of Women and Girls and I am keen that, in particular, we support women and child survivors of modern slavery and trafficking. To that end my President’s charity is BAWSO who do so much across Wales to help women to learn to live a life without fear. We’ll be hearing more from BAWSO and others during the year, educating ourselves about what is happening here on our doorstep and further afield and, I hope, taking action by campaigning, lobby and fundraising.
Thank you for trusting me in this role of President – I look forward to an interesting year and I won’t let you down!
Thank you,
Lesley Davies
President 2023-2024