It was wonderful that so many Members of London Chilterns Region were able to join together at the SIGBI Conference in Edinburgh 1-3 Nov 2024 held in the magnificent Assembly Rooms. There more than 20 of us there, and almost all Clubs were represented.
If after reading this you feel like you missed out, then please put next year’s conference in your diary now! It will be in Birmingham Fri 31 Oct to Sun 2 Nov 2025.
To view the Programme for Edinburgh 2024 click here: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/programme/ The theme was the Soroptimist mantra “Educate, Empower, Enable”.
This conference is in the Federation’s 90th year and there were lots of photos of “90 for 90” shown on the big screen, it was lovely so see that so many has been submitted by our Region.
Our Region’s poster (see photo with l to r Joanna Swift, Barbara Saunders, Kate Belinis and Jane Slatter) was on display with posters from all Regions and Countries. It was wonderful to see all the great work going on around the Federation. Our special centenary 
poster (see photo with Jane Slatter) was also on display, marking the centenaries of SI Greater London, Bristol and Bath. We were able to give copies of the Region’s brochure “Inspirational Clubs and their Projects”, our showcase of work in our Region, to influential people in the Soroptimist organisation so that they can get a taste of our achievements – click here to read more about the brochure and the posters https://sigbi.org/london-chilterns/brochure-2024.
Friday started with the Opening ceremony – it is always moving to see all of the flags from our Federation. I was asked to carry the flag for Grenada which I was 
honoured to do ( see photo). Because we were in Scotland we had a piper to play while the flags were presented to the SIGBI President, and because we are Soroptimists the piper was a she! (see photo). The roll call is fun too – with Members standing and 
waving when their Region or country is called – you can see Members of SI Milton Keynes in this photo.
You can view the blogs written by Members who attended here for the Friday: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/friday-1st-november-2024-members-blogs/
The theme of the first day was “Education” so it was appropriate that first on stage was Debora Kayembe, Immediate Past Rector of Edinburgh University to welcome us all to Edinburgh. She is a remarkable woman whose ground-breaking success from being an asylum seeker her esteemed place in society now, showed the importance of education alongside her personal strength, perseverance and resilience, as well as the power of Soroptimist women’s support and assistance to transform the lives of women and girls.
Our first main speaker was Ann Beatty, Chief Executive of the Steve Sinnott Foundation for Education (please see the photo of Ann waiting to go on stage holding a brochure celebrating 15 years of the charity) https://www.stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk/projects. Ann is also a Member of SI St Albans and District and has spoken about the work of the charity at Region and at Club meetings. I wrote the blog on the day so please click to read all about Ann’s warm and passionate presentation https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/ann-beatty-steve-sinnott-foundation/ We were delighted to hear announced later in the Conference that the SI Foundation is going to support the SSF Positive Periods Projects in 5 countries- great news for such a deserving charity – a fitting way for them to celebrate their 15th Anniversary!
The rest of the afternoon continued with the theme of Education – with a session called “Let’s talk about mentoring” which was an interesting panel discussion to exploring the practicalities, challenges and benefit of mentoring https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/lets-talk-about-mentoring/.
Next we heard from Jalila Moufqia, President of SI Africa Federation, about successful Education projects from Clubs in Africa https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/report-from-si-africa-jalila-moufqia-president-si-africa/.
The conference day was closed with Best Practice Awards for Education. Three projects were shortlisted and the winner was SI Esperance in Trinidad for the Sustainable Harvest Programme, with SI South Kolkata and SI Castlebar being runners up. Full details are on the website https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/best-practice-awards-educate/
Friday was wrapped up with a Networking Event in the Assembly rooms. Lastly Members of the Region and friends got together for dinner in a restaurant and enjoyed good food and great company!
You can view the blogs written by Members who attended here for the Saturday: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/saturday-2nd-november-2024-members-blogs/
The theme for Saturday morning was Empower.
The first speaker was Hafdís Karlsdóttir, President SI Europe who spoke about successful Education projects from Clubs in Europe.
The highlight of the conference for many was when Baroness Floella Benjamin took to the stage – what a tour de force she is! No wonder she was asked to speak to the theme of Empowerment – she embodies it from her humble beginnings as a migrant in England from Trinidad to Baroness to her engagement with Royalty and Heads of State! She empowered the audience to take action on children’s welfare, leaving a lasting impression and igniting a renewed sense of purpose and determination. . You can read the blog here: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/keynote-speaker-baroness-floella-benjamin/. Baroness Floella was delighted that we had so many Members from her home nation of Trinidad at the Conference – Sandra Dieffenthaller’s vote of thanks was accepted with a big Floella hug and smile. SIGBI President Ruth is pictured here with Floella.
The next session was called “Where are they now?” – it was really interesting to hear about the legacy of past projects and to look at if there is anything more we can do.
First we heard about the Meru Gardening Project in Kenya which ran from 2016 – 2019.
The second project was the Purple Teardrop Campaign which ran from 2010 -2015, with the strapline – stop the trafficking – stop the tears. It was started by SI Poole and even though after 16 years the campaign closed, the awareness raised remains and work continues.
The third presentation was the Kori Development Project – familiar to many in our Region because it is run by Members of the SI Thames Valley Club – particularly Rose Simbo, who is originally from the Kori Chiefdom in Sierra Leone https://koridp.org/ . The project started in 2009, after a talk about FGM to the SI Thames Valley Club. The aim was for gifts for the girls and a celebration, instead of them being cut. It has grown massively since then adding major resources for the community such as a library, a school and an orchard!
The last project was ‘Safe and Sure’, it started in the Southeast Region in October 2002, born out of a survey carried out by the Tunbridge Wells club on safety in their town followed not long after a Club member had been assaulted on a train. Programme Director Lindsay Green reported that SIGBI is going to do a similar survey, but this time for all public transport, ports, airports, trains and buses. Details will be provided in the New Year and will be looking to collect information Federation wide.
The full report is here: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/where-are-they-now-a-review-of-past-projects/
Next we heard about the Leadership Academy – click here to read more https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/leadership-academy-report/ The Leadership Academy is a pilot programme with eight Diamond Education Grant recipients partnered with 8 Soroptimist mentors. They want to take this forward and are looking for more mentors.
The last item of the Saturday morning was the Best Practice Awards on Empower. Three projects were shortlisted and the winner was SI King’s Lynn for their Public Speaking Competition. with SI Chennai Downtown’s “Aashraya – short stay home for women in distress” and SI Barbados “Just Be Kind” Anti-Bulling Project in Schools being runners up. Full details are on the website https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/best-practice-awards-empower/
The theme for Saturday afternoon was Enable.
The first speaker of the afternoon was the inspirational Soroptimist International President, Siew Yong Gnanalingam who talked about the many enabling projects she had come in contact with in her first year as SI President. Click here to read more: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/soroptimist-international-president-siew-yong-gnanalingam/
Saoirse Welland is an amazing young woman – brave enough to tell her story, now her debut novel “A Colourful Life”. The Diamond Education Grant and support she received from Soroptimists enabled her to write the book. Click here to read more: https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/diamond-education-grant-deg-recipient/
Next was the Best Practice Awards on Enable. Three projects were shortlisted and the winner was SI Canterbury for their Migrant Women project, with the runners up being SI Sheffield for their ongoing social action in an impoverished part of Sheffield and SI Poole, Purbeck & District for their ‘Fresh Thoughts’ booklet providing information for victims fleeing domestic abuse. Full details are on the website https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/best-practice-awards-enable/
It was SI Poole, Purbeck & District’s project that gained the Delegate’s Choice Award, voted by Members in Conference. Click here to read more about the project providing information for victims fleeing domestic abuse https://sigbi.org/edinburgh2024/members-blogs-from-conference/delegates-choice-award/.
Towards to the end of Saturday it was the Change of Insignia, when we were proud to see our own Kate Belinis go on stage with SIGBI President Ruth Healey to retain the chain of office as Region President for London Chilterns Region for another year (see photo).
There were three SIGBI Honorary Memberships awarded for their contributions to Soroptimist International – Pat Carruthers, Pat Black and Hilary Ratcliffe OBE. We were particularly noisy when Hilary was on the stage – she was one of our “Top 100 Women” in SIGBI nominated by our Region, being a 
Member of SI St Albans and District and holding office at Region, SIGBI and SI levels of the organisation and gaining her OBE for services to women’s equality globally. You can read more here: https://sigbi.org/london-chilterns/history/ certificates (see the photo).
There was time after the day had finished for people to get out their “glad rags” for the 90th Anniversary Dinner. A lovely way to end the 2 days of Conference with friends from our Region.
The final day Sunday was the SIGBI Ltd General Meeting. Voting delegates from Clubs attended and other people who were interested, but many took the opportunity to explore Edinburgh or make their way home instead. The main substantive resolutions for modernisation failed with lots of people taking to the microphones and speaking passionately about their concerns. The first resolution only failed by a few percent so we will now wait to hear more from SIGBI about the way forward.
For the first time, after the General Meeting SIGBI held what was called a “Town Hall Event” whereby anyone in the auditorium could take to the microphone and raise things with the SIGBI Board Members that they would like the organisation to act upon. This seemed like a good idea, just a pity that many people had already left the conference.
Edinburgh 2024 was a great conference and I was really pleased that I went – I feel like I have had my Soroptimist batteries fully recharged!
Next year’s conference will be in Birmingham Fri 31 Oct to Sun 2 Nov 2025. Great news for our Region, because it’s not far to travel and people can go for the day if they wish to. If any Members of Clubs in SI London Chilterns are interested in attending for any or part of the conference please let us know. We can add you to the WhatsApp group so we can all keep up with the plans as soon as more information is made available. The venue is the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre (BCEC) which is directly opposite Birmingham New Street Station.
Jane Slatter, SI London Chilterns Communications Officer