At Soroptimist International Derby, we like to meet regularly for social events. At Christmas 2023, we met for dinner at The Littleover Lodge Hotel On 10th February we met for a Suffragette Lunch  

Soroptimist Derby raised£3,378.49 from January 2021 for the Rosie May Foundation to buy a Tuk Tuk for women and young girls in Sri Lanka. The woman in Sr Lanka  who now owns the Tuk Tuk provides safe journeys for women and young girls whilst earning an improved income to support her family.

On Sunday 4th July S I Derby held a tombola stall at The Big One, Chaddesden Park, Derby.  The sun was shining and we had plenty of visitors of all ages to our stall .  We had lots of winners and we were pleased to receive donations to our chosen charity, The Rosie May Foundation.  Rosie the Tuk Tuk was giving rides, bringing smiles to faces young and old.  

We had a fascinating talk by Tracey Harrison, the CEO of Safe and Sound Derby at our club meeting last night. The charity work with vulnerable children who are being exploited – scary numbers requiring support from the charity over the last year but thank goodness we are lucky enough to have these services in Derby and Derbyshire. We gave them some of our “Loves Me, Loves me Not” bookmarks and will hopefully be able to work with them while planning our “Orange Derby campaign. Here is the link to a video about their work: https://youtu.be/CKBouBQaTxI You can always read about their services on their website https://www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk/ If we can spread the word about the risks of exploitation that young people experience – and yes, it really does happen here in Derby and Derbyshire – then hopefully we can reduce the harm that takes place.

At our recent February meeting, Natasha May and Chelsea Lambert described to us the work of Remedi. Remedi is a charity under the aegis of the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Natasha works in the field of Restorative Justice, instigating lines of communication between perpetrators and victims. All her work is post court. Chelsea works in Victim Services, Adult and Youth (“Got Your Back”). Referrals come mainly from the police. Self-referral is also possible, but all referrals are shared with the police. 250-300 crimes are reported each day. Remedi has 23 permanent staff and a large pool of volunteers, many from the university. Natasha and Chelsea both exhibited great enthusiasm and commitment to their roles and members raised a number of questions to further understand Remedi’s work. Take a look at this video for more info. If you would like to join our

We had an interesting speaker at our meeting last Thursday. Professor Kate Moss has many years experience in applied research and has recently been researching into the impact of homelessness on women. (https://www.derby.ac.uk/staff/kate-moss/) She discovered that Domestic Abuse is frequently a precipitator of homelessness throughout Europe and described women’s homelessness  as  a hidden problem as many women do not make use of the facilities available for homeless people, preferring to sleep in doorways or bus shelters or spend time travelling on trains and buses. Kate also reported how women’s homelessness is impacting on sex work, sexual exploitation and sex for rent. She gave examples of easily found adverts on websites that list rooms for rent with very clear messages of sex for payment. Her recommendations have been for a gendered approach to homelessness and for the provision of more suitable homeless services for women. She

Soroptimist International Derby is delighted to be part of the exhibition being held at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. It is running from September to February 2023. History Makers: A celebration of Derbyshire women and gender diversity Explore inspirational stories and consider what it means to make history past and present. In this exhibition and project lab, join with some amazing organisations and individuals from across the county, to consider how we might empower and support history makers now and in the future. Find out more about the project here. History / Herstory / Theirstory / Ourstory / Mystory Our stand highlights the various projects we have completed over the past 85 years and there are biographies of members dating back through many decades. For further details Derbyshire History Makers celebrated in new exhibition exploring History, Herstory, Mystory, Theirstory, Ourstory | Derby Museums    

What is Orange the World? The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is marked around the world every year on November 25th and is followed by 16 days of activism; a campaign to end gender-based violence. Orange the World is led by the United Nations to mark awareness of the campaign which ends on Human Rights Day December 10th . Buildings and organisations all over the world take part in this campaign by lighting up their buildings in orange in an act of solidarity for the campaign and as a public call to action. It is an opportunity to raise awareness at a local, national and international level about violence against women and girls. Globally the UN report that 1 in 3 women are abused. As we mark the annual 16 days of activism against gender based violence campaign in 2022 this

On Friday 7th October 2022 SI Derby celebrated a special milestone – its 85th Charter Anniversary celebration.  This was a very successful evening, hosted by SI Derby Immediate Past President, Jill Blount. SIGBI President Elect – Ruth Healey, gave an inspiring talk about future changes.  Charles Hanson, celebrity antiques expert and auctioneer, was very entertaining and concluded his talk with an impromptu auction of tickets to his base in Chester.   Members raised £320 for the Rosie May Foundation.  This was totally unexpected, and we are extremely grateful to Charles for his generosity. The table flowers were made by Carole and Judie made the delicious cake. The table name place cards were made from seeded paper which members could take away and plant wildflowers as a souvenir of a wonderful evening