Having two of them!
Our Joint Presidents for 2024/25
Elaine Clarke and Amanda Jones were elected at our AGM in April.
The start of a new Soroptimist year is always a chance to look back on what we’ve achieved.
And looking back over our posts for the past year, you’ll see exactly how inspired we’ve been! Here are just a few of the reasons we’re so proud of our Club.
We kick started our year with news of an amazing achievement for our Club. Thanks to President Elect Elaine’s inspiring lead, together we made Kenilworth a Toilet Twinned Town.
The impact on communities lacking proper toilet and hygiene facilities always falls most heavily on women and girls. We were very grateful to our own community for helping us make our toilet twinned communities healthier and safer for all. Here’s a reminder of how it happened:-
How do we make our town feel flushed with success?
Spring saw us getting ready for our plant stall at the Lions’ Grand Show. Members potted on plants generously donated by a local nursery as well as growing their own at home. Their hard work and enthusiasm inspired us all!
We made over £800 to support our charities. Read how we did it here:-
How can a plant stall help women and girls to grow?
Our charity performance of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in June made a staggering £1180 in ticket sales and themed raffle.
Take your seats to find out more here!:-
President Amanda inspired us to really make our 16 Days of Activism count in November and December. As well as raising community awareness of our campaign to end Violence Against Women and Girls, she led us in finding practical ways of supporting survivors of abuse.
Read about some of the things we did here:-
Would you, could you – step in to stop harassment?
Are you wondering where all the orange is coming from?
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree – how lovely are thy branches!
In between fundraising and our campaign work, we also found time to enjoy ourselves! Amongst many other social events we…
had lunch on the ‘Countess of Evesham’, cruising down the Avon,
picnicked at Kenilworth Castle and had a talk about its history from President Amanda, herself a volunteer at the castle,
had a fabulous evening of fun, friendship and poetry on International Women’s Day,
and celebrated our Club’s 55th year.
And we’re excited to see what our 55th year will bring!
Check out our calendar on the website to see what plans are already made. Our Presidents Elaine and Amanda have identified the charities we’ll be supporting this year.
We’ll be continuing our long established support of Warwickshire Refuge Services. You can read about them here:-
https://refuge.org.uk/i-need-help-now/refuge-domestic-violence-service-warwickshire/
And we’ll carry on helping young teenage girls to achieve and strengthen their self esteem and confidence by supporting the charity ‘You Can Flourish’:-
https://www.youcanflourish.co.uk
We have a long established link with the charity ‘Friends of Sick Children in Malawi’ and we’ll continue to support them this year. Read about their work here:-
https://www.friendsofsickchildreninmalawi.com
The fourth charity we’ll work to support this year is ‘Baby Basics’ and you can read about them here:-
As George Eliot said,
In our 55th, ‘Emerald’ year, with the leadership of our two inspirational presidents, we’ll continue our work to make life less difficult for women and girls wherever they are.
And have some fun on the way!
