I am hugely honoured and excited to be President of the Manchester club for our 100th year. As I was thinking about the year ahead I also thought back to the first Soroptimists who must have been pretty extraordinary and interesting women. Of course Manchester has changed hugely in the last 100 years, as have the Soroptimists. However one of the things that hasn’t changed sadly is that there are still people out there who need our support and help, locally and also nationally and internationally. When I look around at our club members now I think they are just as interesting and amazing women as those early Soroptimists as we too want to give something back to our community, in particular to disadvantaged women and girls. In our 100th year we aim to consider carefully how we can support women and girls by fundraising, advocacy and service. We have recently added to our portfolio of local charities but also continue to support some national initiatives and have special international links we continue to help too.I first became a Soroptimist as a trainee in Glasgow in 1990. As the only female trainee on the rotation I was hoping to meet other women from outside of medicine. I certainly met a group of interesting women from many backgrounds and so on moving for work I then became a member in Nottingham and finally Manchester having settled here for my consultant post in 1998. Each time I have met truly inspirational women from very diverse backgrounds and have found this a huge blessing. I certainly feel, as President Carole said in her closing address at the AGM, that not only do we owe it to ourselves to make our centenary a success and a big celebration, but also to honour those pioneering women who have been Soroptimists over the last 100 years, we should carry on their legacy.
Recently I feel the club has had a renewed enthusiasm as we approach the exciting milestone of our centenary, and that we are working together really cohesively and enjoying the great injection of energy and enthusiasm our newer members have brought. I feel very optimistic about the year as I believe we have a great range of skills between us and I will do my best to help bring our plans to fruition. Our first event, the afternoon tea was a great success, although it involved a lot of hard work from many members I think we all felt was worth it and we finished tired yet were energised by the event. My aspiration for the year ahead is for every member to feel involved and listened to and to really enjoy every minute of our centenary year. Maybe future Soroptimists will look back at our centenary and be further inspired.
Fiona Spencer