Club news

90th Anniversary : Outstanding Women

Our latest pair of outstanding women are Georgina Wilding (Poet and Events Lead at Nottingham City Libraries) and our own Margaret Oldroyd

We are delighted to partner with Nottingham City Libraries to celebrate 90 years of Nottingham’s Soroptimist Club, especially highlighting its work to support the survivors of domestic abuse and to lobby for better services for them. Our display in the Central Library runs from 25th November (International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10th December (Human Rights Day).

Georgina Wilding writes :

As the Libraries Events Lead for Nottingham City Council, it’s my great joy to pull together as many facets of Nottingham’s cultural landscape as I can, and showcase their work here at the library. Demonstrating the empowering work that the Soroptimists are doing for our women and girls not only celebrates them, but facilitates the opportunity for more people to discover the invaluable help that’s available.
The first year that the library opened was also my first year in post, and upon the discovery that over the 200-odd events I’d organised in that year, over 4,500 people attended, I could not have been prouder. As an advocate for literature, arts and culture and the change they can make in a person’s life, it was a true ‘pinch-me’ moment to process that impact.

Margaret Oldroyd

As we mark the opening of our Soroptimist International Nottingham 90th anniversary exhibition at Nottingham Central Library, we are delighted to celebrate our amazing member, Margaret Oldroyd.
Margaret, a past Federation President, is our Club Secretary and ‘go to person’ for Soroptimist knowledge. We are privileged to have her as a member.

Margaret says : I became a Soroptimist because the idea of working with like-minded women to improve the lives of other women really appealed to me. I was also attracted by joining a women’s organisation with a global reach. Here in Nottingham, our work to support and give new opportunities to survivors of domestic abuse and to advocate for a world free from gender-based violence is particularly close to my heart. As someone who spent all my career working in Colleges and Universities, education projects are another favourite as we know that this is the key factor in achieving long term and lasting change in women’s lives. Supporting the education of a girl in Kenya, mock interviews for sixth formers at Nottingham Emmanuel School and awarding prizes to outstanding journalism students at Nottingham Trent University all help with this objective.

During nearly 40 years of membership, the organisation has given me huge opportunities, for example, to see Soroptimist projects on the ground especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was a privilege to advise the fledgling Management Board of our new African Federation and wonderful to see them now leading a continent-wide initiative to eradicate cervical cancer. Membership of Soroptimist International has given me insights into the lives of others, joy from making even a little difference and friendships to be treasured.

In June/July our amazing women are Nicky (Ambassador for Central Women’s Aid) ,on the left, and Resil  (Club member) on the right.

Here, Nicky is receiving her MBE. Nicky says:-

 The Nottingham Soroptimists are an incredible group of amazing women who empower women and girls through their impactful work. The support they offer to refuges is huge and makes such a difference to the women fleeing Domestic Abuse. The work they do is empowering and I truly value it. 
 I am a passionate advocate for families fleeing Domestic Abuse, I was awarded an MBE in the Queens New Years Honours in 2019 for services to Victims of Domestic Abuse, this was for my work with setting up the J9 initiative in Nottingham, The J9 project trains frontline staff in community spaces to: recognise signs of domestic abuse and respond appropriately to survivors. When a space displays the J9 logo, it means trained staff are present, and survivors can safely ask for help.

My passion is fundraising for local refuges, appealing for essential items for women and children and gifts at Christmas and Easter.

I have the huge honour of being the Ambassador for Central Women’s Aid, an amazing charity who support families to live a life free from Domestic Abuse.

Website link – Ambassadors for CWA – CWA and J9 – Creating safe spaces in the community | Equation

Nicky Brindley MBE

Nicky Brindley MBE | Family Community Work Coach | Department for Work and Pensions

Club member Resil is pictured in Central Library on International Women’s Day. Resil says:-

For May, our first pair of amazing women is Rachel and Judy. RACHEL CARTER (photo on left, below) is the sculptor of ‘Standing In This Place’, a bronze statue recognising the legacies of the transatlantic cotton workers, installed in the heart of the rejuvenated Broad Marsh area in Nottingham City Centre. JUDY ROBINSON (seen on left of second photo, below) is a member of Soroptimist International Nottingham, campaigner for more representation of women in public art and the model for one of the figures.

RACHEL CARTER says : working with organisations such as Nottingham’s Soroptimists, is really important especially when working on new public realm pieces such as Standing In This Place. The collaboration and inclusion of many members allows them to take ownership of my work as they feel connected and a part of the work. In the words of Maya Angelou (1928-2014) “Let me remind all women that we live longer and better lives when we have sisters we love, not necessarily born in our bloodline or of our race.”
Rachel’s Work and achievements
Artistic – Working from The Garden Studio on the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border, she works with hand processes and the ancient lost wax technique to create large scale public realm sculpture, alongside sculptures for home and garden.

Process – Since graduating with a Sustainable Applied Arts degree Rachel has been driven by the application of hand weaving processes to create intricate textures and forms for sculpture. Using the lost wax casting technique, she continues to collaborate with Pangolin Editions foundry to push the boundaries of this craft form, combining historic textile techniques with new digital technologies.

History – Many of her commissions are underpinned by a love of history, and she sees the opportunity to represent our shared and complex histories within sculpture as an honour. Looking at her own ancestry often provides inspiration for new work, adding to a long legacy of weavers, knotters and makers that stretch back over 350 years of the East Midlands industrial heritage.

Community – Rachel’s latest project Standing In This Place is an arts and heritage project in collaboration with the Legacy Makers group formed in 2014 by Bright Ideas Nottingham and the collaborative community-academic Global Cotton Connections project. It looks to highlight the contributions and connections between white mill workers and black enslaved women uprooted to the Americas, showing how their stories and histories are connected by cotton, sorrow, strength and resilience.
Standing In This Place https://www.rachelcarter.co.uk/
Rachel Carter Sculpture https://www.standinginthisplace.co.uk/welcome

JUDY ROBINSON tells how her involvement with the project and with Soroptimists came about. Standing In This Place makes history as the UK’s first sculpture to recognise the transatlantic cotton trade story, as well as addressing the imbalance that less than 5% of Britain’s sculptures portray non-royal women – and even fewer are women of colour.
In retirement I was fortunate to find a group who wanted to dance and needed a facilitator. Deane McQueen’s experience, skills and humour gave us wonderful workshops and then introduced us to the Legacy Makers (a Nottingham community history group) and the sculptor, Rachel Carter. In only 5 weeks, we danced with new partners from the Caribbean, shared our stories and histories and began to understand the thinking behind this unique project. What a roller-coaster from then on! By week three, the Stitchers were already making our costumes.

I enjoy meeting new people and new experiences. There were so many strands to this Project as it grew and drew in poets, artists, braiders, photographers, video makers, writers, historians and foundry workers. I began to realise after the first whirlwind year both the important impact the statue could have and also the mountain we still had to climb to raise the funding. Staying involved in my case owed much to Rachel and the Legacy Makers. in particular my dancing partner. When explaining my involvement, I found that ‘ Challenge the 5%’ became a rallying call I felt proud to be associated with.
It was ‘spreading the word’ to other women which brought me in contact with Soroptimist International of Nottingham. I count myself very fortunate to have found and joined this organisation which is both international and local with a longstanding commitment to women and girls.
Since becoming a member I have valued the friendship, determined efficiency, caring and positivity of the club’s members. Finally, I salute their generosity and support of all kinds from members coming to talks , films, celebrations and exhibitions over the 3 years, to donations and an invitation to the sculptor to speak to our organisation.

Orange cafe

We held  a very successful Orange Cafe on Tuesday, 24th September at St Peter’s Church Cafe, near Marks and Spencer’s. Four of our members chatted to over 40 people to explain what we do as Soroptimists and what the ‘Orange the World’ campaign is all about. Watch out for news of our next event when we welcome you to come and say ‘Hi’ and find out who we are and why we’re ‘Standing up for women’

Here are Karen and Margaret greeting members of the public

Our walk in Rushcliffe Country Park

On Wednesday, 14th August we were joined by family and friends for a lovely walk around Rushcliffe Country Park followed by a picnic. A chance to come together during our summer break

Standing in this place – Club member Judy was one of the models!