The Sandringham Parkrun volunteer team were joined by 10 members of Soroptimist International club King’s Lynn, on 7th March to celebrate International Women’s Day 2026. Club member and Soroptimist Regional President Kim Bramham said: Soroptimist International clubs across the world mark International Women’s Day every year, joining women to raise awareness of the importance of gender equality globally and to celebrate women’s achievements. The United Nations has released the official theme for International Women’s Day 2026 as ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls’, – what better way for our club to celebrate than by taking action to volunteer in key parkrun roles. Parkrun and Soroptimists make a great partnership – both are volunteer-led, inclusive and supportive, working to enable all people to achieve in a safe and supportive way.  Members were also available during the run to chat about Soroptimists and International Women’s Day. Members

Club members were pleased to welcome local author Antonia Hayes to their meeting on 2nd February. Antonia explained her lifelong love of books which led her to working in a bookshop and then a career in publishing. She had always kept a diary and after taking a short writing course produced her first book ‘Relativity’. The manuscript was sought after, attracting 6 bidders at auction. Since then, she has published a book of essays and has a new book in the pipeline (from which the members were treated to an extract). Antonia has had a varied life, being born in Australia and living in Sidney, Paris, California and London before moving to King’s Lynn with her husband and children. King’s Lynn was chosen because for Antonia the big skies made it ‘feel like home’. Antonia with her husband and a small group set up the

Every year, Soroptimists join the UN’s global 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls, held from 25 November to 10 December. This year, Soroptimist clubs around the world are focusing on preventing online violence and creating safer digital spaces for women and girls. The campaign highlights how online abuse happens and promotes practical tools to help users stay safe. We all have the power to create safer online spaces. Every interaction we have shapes digital culture. When we choose kindness and respect, we contribute to an online environment where everyone can participate without fear. Creating safety online isn’t just reactive—it’s about actively fostering positive interactions and inclusive communities For more information, please visit https://sigbi.org/2025/16-days-activism/ The colour chosen for the 16 days of activism is orange and at the recent club dinner all members wore orange in support. Members sent Christmas greetings to each other

King’s Lynn Soroptimists and their guests were delighted to welcome guest author Sophia Bennett (writing as S J Bennett) who has created a much-acclaimed series ‘Her Majesty the Queen Investigates’ to their annual literary lunch on Sunday 16th November. The series features the late Queen Elizabeth II as an inspired yet discreet solver of crimes. Having wanted to be a writer from a young age, Sophia explained about her transition from writing children’s books to murder mysteries. The idea of the Queen as a crime solver took hold and resulted in much research into the royal residences and the daily life of the Queen – weaving the fictional content into the monarch’s busy schedule. Windsor, Buckingham Palace and Sandringham House respectively provide the settings for the first 3 books of the series – the first ‘The Windsor Knot’ was written in 2019 and this resulted

In the November meeting members heard from Cambridgeshire-based mathematical historian, Snezana Lawrence, who spoke about women in the history of mathematics, drawing on her new book “A Little History of Mathematics” published this year by Yale University Press. The talk explored what mathematics is and its uses and showcased female mathematicians from the time of the followers of Pythagoras to the present day. Members learned about Hypatia, the first woman mathematician whose work we know, to Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an Italian who dedicated her life to both Newtonian mathematics and supporting women and girls, to Alicia Boole Stott, a British mathematician specialising in four-dimensional geometry. Many more women who were celebrated, hidden, or who broke new frontiers in mathematical sciences can be found in the book, which uses concepts and words that the average reader can understand. It is packed with beautiful illustrations – some

Soroptimist International of King’s Lynn continue to support our vital local charities. During the November meeting, club members brought along food items to donate to the amazing Foodbank, which supplies emergency food parcels to residents who are really struggling to put food on the table for themselves and their children. The items shown in the photograph will provide a balanced diet for one individual for three days. The provisions donated, including a cash donation, were sufficient to create 6 of these parcels. Clair, the office supervisor, was delighted to receive the food and explained that “without the generosity of local people and organisations such as the Soroptimists, our work would be so much more difficult.”

As part of its 50 for 50 initiative whereby Soroptimist International of King’s Lynn is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, members collected 50 novels for The King’s Lynn Minster’s second-hand fundraising bookstall. Earlier this year, the club became aware that The King’s Lynn Minster (St Margaret’s Church), wanted novels and books for their Second Hand fundraising bookstall. Member Bea Knights recently met with Revd Fiona Munn and Revd Mark Diamond at The King’s Lynn Minster to hand over 50 pre-loved novels which the members have collected. Revd Mark Diamond was delighted to receive the books donated and said, “the books will be very well received”. “Our bookstall is very popular.” Club members continue collecting items to support worthy charities and causes, such as Tapping House, Baby Basics, Foodbank/Purfleet Trust among others.        

A group of 5 members from Soroptimist International of King’s Lynn attended the Federation Conference in Birmingham the first weekend in November 2025. Sunday was the day for the change over of Presidents and the members of Soroptimist International of King’s Lynn were very proud to see their member Kim Bramham become the Regional President for the London Anglia Region. Kim commented: Attending Conference is always inspiring, and this year more so as it is quite a few years since a member of the King’s Lynn club has had the honour of being Regional President.  I chose ‘Togetherness and Unity for Women and Girls’ as my theme because we can make a difference when we work together.  I am looking forward to the coming year, when we will continue to work on raising awareness of issues that affect women and girls locally, across East Anglia

In 2023/24 the club was very pleased to have Baby Basics West Norfolk as one of their club charities and donated £583 in 2024. Following on from that donation, the charity has been included in the members of Soroptimist International of King’s Lynn celebration of their club’s 50th anniversary.   On Tuesday 6th October Baby Basics were presented by member Sue Renwick with a donation of 50 items of clothing and accessories to help support new mothers and their babies. The organiser Maggie Anderson and other volunteers were delighted with the gift.

At the recent October speaker meeting, the club was pleased to welcome Sally-Ann a textile artist to introduce us to the practice of Slow Stitch for Wellbeing,  a means to relax and de-stress. Sally-Ann talked about her background and how she took the step in her 50’s to go back into education after previously working in retail and  having her own business in Design. Sally-Ann discovered a passion for learning and completed a degree in textiles at Norwich / Carmarthen. Totally hooked on learning and developing moved back to Cambridge to complete a masters in fine Art. Finally, Sally-Ann has settled here in Kings Lynn where she feels inspired and loves the Norfolk expansive sky and the wide  horizons which  give her a sense of freedom.  Against a background of emotional stress and lack of self-esteem Sally-Ann has found Slow Stitch for Wellbeing to be