Past and present members of SI Medway and Maidstone celebrated at a Coffee Morning on 18 May with Mary talking to us about her professional and Soroptimist career. Mary is one of 100 Soroptimists recognised by SIGBI as part of the centennial celebrations who have made a noteworthy contribution to society in the furtherance of the aims and objects of the organisation.
We have not been able to meet in person due to lockdown and present Mary with her #Whoisshe certificate signed by Federation President Johanna Raffan and so we opened the Coffee Morning with a warm welcome and presented the certificate virtually.
Mary spoke of her being invited and interviewed to become a Soroptimist fifty-four years ago in Maidstone when she was working as a young GP in a practice with 2 other women – which was unusual at the time. She was welcomed in and allocated to a community committee which enabled her to extend her knowledge and experiences beyond her medical area of expertise. She went on to take on many of the roles within the club and at Region but never as treasurer.
Mary brought to life her time and experiences at Federation level and International level with the SIAM project where many young girls were prevented from entering the sex industry and enabled to explore education opportunities. Read more about Mary on SIGBI centennial page https://sigbi.org/soroptimistcentenary2021/files/13.-Dr-Mary-Buchanan-1-1-1.pdf
There was a unanimous feeling by everyone attending of how inspirational Mary has been hearing it all first hand, amazed at how she managed to achieve so much through hard work and how proud we are to have her as an honorary member of our club. Congratulations Mary…..xx
