Jackie Paling receives award from Theresa May 2013 / Violence and Conflict Resolution – please click on the link to the article to read more: Marsh Award  

When SI London Mayfair disbanded in April 2010, the members knew they would always stay in touch. It has fallen to Sakina Jetha (now of SI Central & SW) to arrange a social event for the former members and this was the third event which she has arranged. Previous events were lunch at the Ritz as well as a previous visit to the Sloane Club. It was also a double celebration as Eve Craske, now a member of SI Elmbridge, had celebrated her 80th birthday earlier in the year and we had champagne and birthday cake as part of the lunch. SILM distributed the remainder of the charity monies raised during their final year to extend the finance of projects which they had started, this meant that Project Mala in Africa had a further 3years finance and a pupil in San Fernando, their Friendship Link, had

Tuesday 8th March  International Women’s Day 100th Anniversary (Picture is 2010 Walk) “Women on the Bridge” London Millennium Bridge – joint event with Women for Women International (WWI) – see the website www.womenforwomen.org/bridge There will be events in the UK and all over the world. The London event is the main event and it’s in our Region! Liz Morgan-Lewis will speak alongside people like Annie Lennox and leading politicians after the march. Sign up for an event on the WWI website www.womenforwomen.org/bridge or contact Jane Slatter. The march will leave Borough Market at 11am (meet from 10am), walking along the south side of the river to Millennium Bridge, crossing the Thames to the North side then continuing west along the river walk past Victoria Embankment Gardens, then crossing back along Hungerford Bridge to the South side of the river and finishing at the Royal Festival Hall for

On Saturday 5 February 2011 we held the Incoming President Workshop which included Elects, Vice and was hosted by Region President Johanna Raffan and led by Teams of Excellence trainer Eileen Shaw, both from SI Thames Valley. We were also joined by members of the Exec Committee. The Region holds this event every year and helps to introduce the new presidents to the Committee and to understand how the Region moves forward within the SIGBI Federation. After the introductions it was clear that we had a mix of recycled Presidents, members of longstanding who finally wanted to take office, and those newer members, who wanted to make an early start in club life. Given this range, it is clear that these personalities are within every Club, and one of the fundamental messages from every President should be to recognise the differences within her club. It is important to recognise

Congratulation to Jean for the excellent article.  Your points on the value of Soroptimist were very well made. My attempt to copy this is rather fuzzy.  You may get a better copy by pasting the following into your browser: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=&refresh=7a1Q0Tc5z04E&EID=50e786ee-c629-4dee-ba75-9b9d94f0a6ac&skip=true

You will be thrilled to hear that Soroptimists from London Chilterns, South East and Southern Regions joined in the march on the Millennium Bridge on Tuesday 8 March. It took one and a half hours but the circuit was held in bright sunshine and there was plenty to feel proud about. Arriving at the Festival Hall on South Bank, after crossing the Hungerford Bridge, there were rallying speeches from Annie Lennox, Bianca Jagger, Lynne Featherstone (Equalities Minister) and our own Federation President Liz Morgan-Lewis, and also some stirring words from the great grand-daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst. After the speeches, we went back to our stand where were able to speak with interested parties along with other participants such as Care international and Women for Women International.  For once we had been given a great introduction by the organisers and the word Soroptimist was used several

Training in Public Speaking at the House of Lords with Baroness Flather There were nine of us present at the Public Speaking workshop hosted by Baroness Shreela Flather on Tuesday 15 June. She is a feisty lady and broke the mould when she became the first Asian in the House of Lords and a woman too. There was a good representation from the Clubs of SILC Region and we spent the morning showing her our prepared speeches. It was clear that perhaps we didn’t all interpret the meaning of Public Speaking correctly and she made it clear who had it right or not. We were invited to mark certain elements and make our own comments about each other. It was during this discussion that other talents became apparent and after lunch we reorganised our speeches, some changed content totally and we re-presented the results. This

SI THAMES VALLEY have been really lucky in recruiting two new soroptimists who are directly connected with Sierra Leone.  Many clubs will already know of Rosie Simbo who is a specialist midwife dealing with FGM and HIV/Aids mothers.  Rosie has also started a field project in her area, recruiting 50 women to plant seeds and grow much needed vegetables which they can feed their children and also sell. Lori Spragg is a local Marlow lady who has already made a huge difference to the literacy chances of children in Sierra Leone. This is Lori’s latest newsletter.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do and if you have any contacts with schools, libraries we would be delighted to collect any books you can deliver, either to our Fashion Party in Bourne End at Sat 11 Sept, our next club meeting on 21 Sept

The Fair Trade charity fashion show organised by Soroptimist International London Chilterns Region on 27th May was a fabulous event. The event raised money for Project SIerra, which helps disadvantaged women and children in Sierra Leone face their futures with confidence www.projectsierra.org Julie Blackwell, President of SI London Chilterns Region is pictured here on the left of the picture with all of the models. While guests enjoyed a glass of wine during the evening the girls showed off a gorgeous selection of People Tree Fair Trade fashion, and two dresses made by women in SIerra Leone who have been supported by Project SIerra.   In addition to the fashion show there were displays for guests to view with information from Soroptimist International, The Fairtrade Foundation, Women for Women International, clothes, jewellery and gift items from  Natura, Alkara and Briony Bell-Burrow, with personal beauty treatments from

 “Women on the Bridge” event in London International Women’s Day – Monday 8th March    Soroptimists joined the march and stood in solidarity on the Millennium Bridge in London to mark International Women’s Day. This global event, organised by Women for Women International brought together women from their partner organisations including members of Soroptimist International. Annie Lennox, popstar and campaigner, Sarah Brown, the Prime-Minister’s wife, Cherie Lunghi  the actress were there along with other prominent figures.  The event honours the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world. The 81 events worldwide symbolise building bridges to peace, sending a message that says “No!” to war and “Yes!” to peace and hope. Pictured here with Annie Lennox are Julie Blackwell (Soroptimist international London Chilterns Regional President) and Johanna Raffan (Soroptimist international London Chilterns Regional President-Elect). Take a look at the event on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHqOUUzNhh4

British-Taiwanese Women and Soroptimist London Chilterns Conference‏ “Stop Trafficking”   This special event was organised by Taiwan Soroptimist Helen Yang from the Citizens Organizing Foundation (COF) in London in partnership with SI London Chilterns Region. Hilary Ratcliffe, SIGBI Programme Director chaired the morning session where three speakers tackled human trafficking from different perspectives. Workshops in the afternoon covered “how to organise a campaign”, “Taiwanese experience of human trafficking” and “Drivers to supply and demand – what limiting action can we take?” Pauline Monk from SI Poole ran a workshop and presented on the “Purple Teardrop Campaign” – “Stop the Trafficking, Stop the Tears” www.purpleteardrop.org.uk  

Bras in Cardiff Bay at the Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) Annual Conference in Cardiff  Photo: Andrew Jeffrey The “Bras in the Bay” event in Cardiff was a spectacular success. Hundreds of Soroptimists brought their bras to Cardiff Bay to benefit an Oxfam project for women in Senegal. The Millennium Centre in Cardiff is behind this chaotic scene of Soroptimists with thousands of bras. To hear the interview on Radio Wales with Hilary Ratcliffe (SIGBI Programme Director and member of London Chilterns Region) click here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8335356.stm

Rosie Simbo, a midwife from Sierra Leone (S.L.) came to talk to the Thames Valley Soroptimists about her experiences growing up in S.L. and the work that she currently does there, trying to persuade young girls to avoid HIV/AIDS and working to eradicate female genital mutilation (fgm) which is still going on in her area of S.L.. Rosie was very brave in sharing her experience of fgm and the struggle to change the hearts and minds of people who still maintain that it is part of their ‘culture’. The photograph shows Rosie with her three NHS colleagues who persuaded her to come and talk to us: Helen St Ledger who is a diabetes clinic co-ordinator, Dr Amanda Gilliland, GP, and President Barbara Turner who is an NHS manager. For more about the Thames Valley Club please visit their website: www.sitv.org.uk