Northwest Soroptimists have been #BreakingBarriers
Saturday 11 May 2019 saw around 100 delegates from across the North West and surrounding regions attend our latest Regional Conference, held at the Preston Marriott, with the theme of #BreakingBarriers. President Alison’s welcome in the Conference Programme sums up the day.
WELCOME to the 2019 North West Regional Conference at the Preston Marriott Hotel.
The Conference theme is #BreakingBarriers (Hashtag Breaking Barriers). It’s probably no mystery why we’d choose Breaking Barriers as a theme, after all, Soroptimists the world over spend their lives helping women and girls break barriers.
But why #?
Because we’re already part of a global conversation about breaking barriers, but unless you’re a Soroptimist, you probably don’t know that! Using # is like waving a big blue flag about our conversation. Anyone, anywhere in the world, will see that Soroptimists in the North West of England are serious about being included in the global conversation about “breaking barriers”, serious about making a difference. Try it, type #BreakingBarriers into Google and see what the global conversation is!
Bringing the global #BreakingBarriers conversation to today in Preston, we’ve an exciting programme of speakers lined up for you. Speakers from different walks of life who’ll share with us the damage they’ve done to barriers, completely obliterated them in some cases! We hope that you’ll be inspired, recharged and re-enthused for your work as a Soroptimist.
#BreakingBarriers we hope you enjoy your day.
Alison Driver
The inspiring and thought provoking speakers for the day were:
- Dr Erinma Bell MBE DL JP
- Steph Sherratt, Breaking Barriers NW
- Gail Newsham, Pride of Preston – The Dick, Kerr Ladies
- Chris Green OBE, White Ribbon (UK)
- Mary Houldsworth, Medecins Sans Frontieres
- Rosie Dummer, AKA Rosie Cake Diva
In the words of one first-time attendee, she “found the conference welcoming, inviting, informative, with a wide variety of passionate speakers.”
After a brief rest, planning will start soon for our next Northwest conference in 2021 – with a trip out to the South Lancashire conference in 2020.