Our latest news! We have a new home and it’s in Woodford.
What’s our latest news? From January 2018 we have a new home and it’s in Woodford! From now, our women’s organisation Soroptimist East London, will be holding its monthly meetings at the Woodford Memorial Hall. Meetings take place on the third Tuesday of each month at 7.15 pm.
Who are Soroptimist East London?
Perhaps you haven’t heard of Soroptimist East London. We are part of Soroptimist International. Founded in 1921, Soroptimist International is the world’s largest women’s organisation – with a network of around 72,000 club members in 121 countries. It’s a global volunteer movement dedicated to empowering women.
The Soroptimist East London club was first founded in 1931.
“Soroptimist East London is a real sisterhood” says our President Alison Charles. “That means that we support each other as members, we support women in East London and also women internationally.”
Soroptimist East London is all about making friends with like-minded women, having fun and working together to help improve the lives of women and girls locally, nationally and internationally. We’re actively involved in mentoring budding businesswomen, in partnership with East London’s Luminary Bakery, and in supporting East London womens’ refuges. Last year the Club assisted in conducting a survey on public perceptions of human trafficking and modern slavery, participating in part of the UK government’s strategy to combat slavery.
Programme Action Officer, Melanie Leivers, says “we’re an active and fun club working locally, nationally and internationally. Internationally we are involved with brilliant initiatives like the Kori Project in Sierra Leone through the Soroptimist International Thames Valley club, the Meru Women’s Garden Project in Kenya. Both projects empower women economically and also work against FGM. We have also worked directly with Soroptimist International of Calcutta (our “Friendship Link Club”) improving womens’ safety.
Soroptimist International has consultative status at the United Nations. This means that all the work we do, whether right here in East London or further afield, can have an impact at the very height of international affairs, the United Nations.”
What do we think about moving to Woodford?
We’re really excited about moving to Woodford and having a new home. Secretary Sally Knight said, “Woodford Memorial Hall is a great place to meet and we are looking forward to being part of the local community.
Would you like to learn more about Soroptimist East London?
We’re a friendly club full of friendly women so if you’d like to learn more about us, come to a meeting or join, get in touch!
You can also find us on social media: Facebook and Twitter.