We attended a very successful event at the Charity Fair last Friday which took place at St Giles' Dell Centre in Ashtead. The event was organised by MP for Epsom and Ewell, Chris Grayling.  15 charities were present including our own stall which was jointly occupied by SI Epsom & District and True Honour. Chris has supported SI Epsom & District on a number of other occasions including our Human Trafficking Conference in 2010 and our 50th anniversary of the Club at St Barnabas Church in 2019. One of our members present, Sally Curtis,  said " When Chris Grayling approached our corner, his first comment was: 'Ah, the formidable Soroptimists !' We brought him up to date on what we had been doing and introduced him to Sarb Athwal and True Honour." The Charity Fair was a great opportunity to raise our profile and draw

Soroptimist International Epsom & District paid tribute to suffragette Emily Wilding Davison when they visited the new statue in Epsom town centre recently. Members took a moment to reflect on how far the women’s movement has come in over 100 years.  One long-standing Soroptimist member for 47 years, Diana Porter, said “The statue of Emily acknowledges the efforts of suffragettes to obtain some recognition for women of their true role in society. We were pleased to donate funds to the Surrey History Centre enabling them to purchase ‘The Suffragette’ dated 13 June 1913 which documented Emily stepping out in front of the King’s horse on 4 June 1913, causing her fatal injuries.” More information about the Emily Wilding Davison Project can be found here: Emily Wilding Davison Project More news.....   articles  were published in:  Surrey Live http://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/epsom-soroptimists-visit-new-statue-in-tribute-to-suffragettes/ Times News Express: 'Obtain recognition for women' —

As part of SIGBI Day of Action, we  listened to a podcast and discussed  what is happing to our food.  We looked at  where we buy our food from ( e.g. local shops, supermarkets, delivery) and where it originates from. Whether we buy food from  another country which has the appropriate climate compared to growing it in the UK under 'forced' conditions. In this situation, importing food and shipping  may be  more viable economically and create less greenhouse gases from carbon emissions. Buying seasonally grown vegetables and fruit in this country is also advocated. We  discussed waste, for example preparing too much food and throwing it away or throwing away food that goes beyond its sell- by date.  Making batches of food and freezing it is a good process to use as well as  using up ingredients already in the fridge or cupboard and inventing

A call went out from West Middlesex Hospital for donations to pregnant Afghan women refugees arriving at Heathrow.  These women have arrived with very little and many have had to be admitted into hospital. It is unknown how long they will be staying at the hospital and when they are likely to be moved  within the UK. Some items from Soroptimist International Epsom & District were delivered to a drop off point in Surbiton.  Although donations have now closed,  if you have any of the following items,  you can contact Care4Calais https://care4calais.org/  who have a number of donation drop off points  around the country for Afghanistan Refugees.  – dark plain leggings – variety of sizes – oversized T-shirt/night shirts – sanitary towels – new black or white underwear – variety of sizes – basic toiletries – toothbrush/toothpaste/shampoo/shower gel/deodorant – newborn to 3 month baby grows –

A very special evening was held last night to celebrate Sarbjit’s achievement of being one of just over 100 women to receive the  Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland’s (SIGBI) # Who Is She? Award.  As our Centenary year ( 1921-2021)  continues,  we are very fortunate to have Sarbjit as a member of our Club.  Sally Curtis presented  Sarbjit with her certificate face-to- face  with several members of our Club and others joining in on Zoom. Sarbjit’s work with the charity True Honour  focuses on supporting women who are survivors of  domestic abuse, forced marriage and FGM.  Her  work has been exemplary and her own personal journey as the sister – in – law of  Surjit Athwal, who was the subject of an honour killing, has been documented in the book Shamed. You can read Sarbjit’s story for the #Who is She? Award here

We are currently supporting three domestic abuse charities through various fund-raising activities this year and through an ongoing collection of 5ps. We supported the very recent Domestic Abuse Bill which has passed through the House of Commons and it will make a huge difference to the lives of many women. https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/07/07/7626/ True Honour True Honour is a charity founded by a survivor of honour-based abuse , Sarb, who gave evidence in the  Honour Killing of her sister-in-law by close members of her family. True Honour educates both the South Asian and wider communities by raising awareness of the awful practices of honour-based abuse, honour killing and forced marriage as well as training the whole range of professionals who may have to deal with these crimes. Their mission is to empower & enable young women (and men) in the community to gain freedom from violent and

Recently, Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid (RBWA ) were provided with toys and games, kindly  donated by the families of pupils attending  Wemms  Education Centre  in Leatherhead. 

How much do you know about supporting street homeless people?  Would you buy them a cup of coffee, give them money or start a conversation? These questions and more were answered during the talk we received from  David Annand  of Transform Housing & Support. David  referred to  Why Transform  is one of Surrey’s best kept secrets as so little is known about it’s existence. Transform support a wide range of people from the ages of 16 to 90. In 2019/20 they were dealing with 1734 clients.  There were 160 properties containing 920  clients. Both men and women are being supported and the majority of women are aged between  30-59 years of age. The focus of support is very much on skills development, for example tenancy management, budgeting, managing harmful behaviours  and independent living skills such as personal hygiene and cooking.  Amongst their clients,  they have

A special thank you to Charlotte  Kneer, CEO of Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid (RBWA), for speaking at  our Club meeting  yesterday.   Charlotte gave us the  latest news from the refuges which have coped amazingly well during the pandemic. At one point, Charlotte mentioned that they were having to turn away 8 or 9 women for every refuge space they had, compared to 3 being turned away pre- pandemic. Luckily,  they  have received some more  funding from Surrey County Council and have been able to accommodate emergency support  for  families in another large refuge. This new refuge will accommodate up to 19 families by mid May. Charlotte  has been asked to meet with  Victoria Atkins,  the Safeguarding minister,  to look into the possibility of rolling out the RBWA  model across Surrey with a possibility of it being rolled out nationally. With regards to the Domestic

How much do you know about Ovarian Cancer? March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and  last night we were privileged to welcome Nicky Thompson and Sylvia Pearl from the Dianne Oxberry Trust. They  spoke about Dianne Oxberry who was an English broadcaster and meteorologist, best known as a long-serving TV and radio presenter for BBC North West. She presented weather forecasts for the regional news programme North West Tonight for 23 years until her death in 2019 of Ovarian Cancer. The Trust was set up in Dianne’s name to spread the word about this disease which often goes unnoticed by women, their family and friends. Their message was very much act before it is too late. Here are some of the main symptoms to look out for but there are others. For more information about the symptoms and the work of the Trust go to