The first Soroptimist club was formed in Oakland, California in 1921 and one of its early projects was to campaign to ‘Save the Redwoods’. At that time, these great ancient trees were being felled unmercifully.
Soroptimists took on the powerful lumber companies, gained public support for the project and lobbied Government.
The result was that the major portion of the Redwoods was set aside in a protected reserve which still stands today. Subsequently, Soroptimists raised $5,000 which was matched by the state of California to purchase The Redwood Grove. It was finally dedicated as the Soroptimist Grove on 14 August 1949.
When planning how Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland would celebrate the centenary, it was decided what better way was there, than to have a tree planting project, which would raise the profile of our organisation and help the environment.
We now have tree planting across the Globe as Soroptimist Clubs join in with this project.
London Anglia clubs are playing their part and hope to have planted a significant number of trees in our locations during 2021. With the current restrictions due to COVID-19 it is proving difficult in some place to get permissions to plant and of course, even if you have the OK to plant and have the trees on order it is not possible to have a tree planting ceremony – and we can only plant during certain times of the year. So it maybe 2022 before all the planting is achieved but we will get there.
We are also hoping to celebrate by having a grand picnic in the beautiful grounds of Newnham College.