On the day after International Women’s Day we planted a Silver Birch in Darlington’s South Park in memory of our late member Gypsy Nichol. Gypsy was an active member of our club for 60 years – from 1964 to 2024. The tree is in a lovely spot overlooking the lake and near the tree that was planted to mark the Coronation of Charles III. We think Gypsy would be pleased!

On Monday 9th March four club members handed out a total of sixty roses to women in the town centre. They were all surprised and delighted. “This has made my day!” was a common reaction. We celebrated International Women’s Day and made more people aware of Soroptimists.

A steady stream of visitors came to our exhibition to celebrate International Women’s Day. We were pleased to have coverage in the local press and to read so many very favourable comments on Facebook. 44 Darlington women – past and present – were highlighted.

Some of our members modelled the collection of spectacles which will be given to the Lions, who accept them for recycling. Two in-house speakers informed us about children’s preventable hearing loss and HPV vaccinations respectively. 

We sold all the tickets for our Pudding Party and raised nearly £670 for club funds. Everybody enjoyed the delicious puddings prepared by our members and were entertained by quizzes and a raffle.

A celebration of Friendship at our New Year meal at Meze (Turkish restaurant). Made it just before the end of January!

We discussed plans for the year: in particular our forthcoming fundraiser in February.

  We donated toiletries, food and warm scarves to the annual Festive Feed at Babul’s, Darlington.

Club members provided the food and enjoyed Christmas quizzes at our December meeting.

We have given these double-sided beer mats to 16 local pubs to spread the word during the 16 Days of Activism.  Huge thanks to Soroptimist International of Glamorgan whose original idea they were and who created our design for us.