This page tells you a bit about our recent meetings and events. For upcoming dates please take a look at our Meetings and Events and About our Club page.
If you would like more information about Soroptimist International, please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
Jan 2024
Members of SI Oxford and District (SIOD) and SI Madurai met in Oxford to discuss their joint project to help mothers of children with childhood glaucoma. SIOD have raised £300 for this project so far.
Aug 2023
We got very lucky with the weather, and attended a garden party held by one of our members. In addition to some delicious food and the opportunity to catch up with each other, we held a raffle. £45 was raised for the Abingdon Carousel charity.
July 2023
Members attended a talk given by the Oxford Food Hub, and brought along items for donation.
February 2022
Members, their friends and families organised various activities around reading in order to raise money for the Women’s Refuge. This included being sponsored to read as much as possible and meeting to read and discuss our favourite books with each other.
May 2019
Four members of SI Oxford and District visited SI Bonn to join the club in watching the annual ‘Rhine in Flames’ celebrations. We experienced a wonderful weekend of hospitality, fun and friendship as guests of Soroptimists from our friendship link club, Bonn-Siebengebirge. We enjoyed museum visits, sight-seeing, and social events culminating in a wonderful evening at the ‘Rhein in Flammen’. This is a traditional event with at least forty boats lit up travelling down the Rhine and to top the evening off there was an amazing firework display. It was a wonderful visit and an opportunity to build friendships and share experiences on projects supported.
January 2019
Kay McCallum, the Lead Nurse in Oncology at the OUH trust, came to talk about her work as a nurse and her volunteering as a Samaritan. Kay was a most engaging speaker and was very willing to answer questions during her talk. She had trained in Northern Ireland, worked at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and then worked as a MacMillan Nurse in Scotland before coming to Oxford. Since coming to Oxford she had met and married her husband and in addition to her hospital job she volunteers with the Oxford branch of the Samaritans. Kay gave us a very good overview of the history of the Samaritans as well as the kind of calls she can receive. It was a great pleasure to listen to her stories and to hear her enthusiasm for her work and volunteering.
The Samaritans help anyone who needs them. Most people who contact the Samaritans are not suicidal. They will give you an opportunity to talk about any thoughts or feelings you have, whatever they may be.
November 2018
We had an excellent evening making our own sushi-style rolls under the guidance of Roll With Me Sushi.
September 2018
Barry and Gill Goodman gave us a very interesting talk about folk customs and traditions around the UK from their own experiences of the folk scene over the last 40 years. They went through the year starting with May day traditions such as May poles and Jack in the Green, and ending with Jack Valentine in Norfolk in February. It was interesting to hear how many traditions were lost at the beginning of the 20th century and were then revived in the 1970s and 80s!! The talk was punctuated with songs and we were all encouraged to join in the choruses! The most interesting tradition was the Tar Barrel rolling that takes place on Bonfire night in Ottery St Mary, Devon, sounds like an amazing sight although I’m not convinced about the health and safety provisions!
July 2018
Club member Berna Bridge gave a fascinating and very interesting talk to members about Emotional Intelligence. We are used to referring to intelligence as a general quality as many of us in our earlier years would have undergone IQ tests. However intelligence takes a number of forms and emotional intelligence is just one. Briefly it is about how well we handle ourselves and our relationships. It includes such elements as self awareness, self management, for example how we deal with difficult emotions in an effective way, and empathy – understanding how someone else is feeling. Members greatly enjoyed Berna’s talk.
June 2018
The Nasio trust, which has its UK headquarters in Oxfordshire, was founded when a local woman (Irene Mudenyo) in rural Kenya found an abandoned baby in a sugar cane field and took him into her home. Over time with help from her daughters Irene created a day care centre for orphaned children which eventually became the Nasio Trust. Our speaker – UK secretary Sue Russell – told us how since its beginings the Nasio Trust has blossomed into a force for good with local Kenyan workers and UK volunteers working hard together to provide food, education and healthcare for local children. A school and a medical centre have been built by teams from both countries. Funding has increased over time so that the charity is able to support projects further afield, for example the Oldonyosambu water project in Tanzania. The Nasio Trust also supports income generating projects such as spirulina production and sustainable farming.
Funds for the trust are raised in all the usual ways in this country but also through school and other groups climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Our members decided that this was perhaps not for them but that we would knit red jumpers, the school uniform, and buy pretty pants for girls who do not have them and need them, of course, especially during their periods.
https://www.thenasiotrust.org/
Pip Dingle, Fundraising Manager from Maggie’s Oxford, gave a most interesting talk on all the work that the Centre does. It offers free, practical, emotional and social support for people with cancer, and to their families and friends.
At February’s Programme Action Evening, Maria Skoyles told us all about her amazing Dress Project. In 2016 Maria designed a dress ‘that would empower the voiceless in the fashion supply chain’. The design has been patented and developed so that it can be made in remote parts of the world. It comes in one size which fits all including pregnant and breast feeding women. Each garment is made using fair trade fabric and Maria stressed the importance of providing the dress maker with a fair price of 30% of the selling price.
To find our more about The Project and the work Maria does visit www.mariaskoyles.co.uk
December 2017
November 2017
We also collected items for the Project Shoebox Oxford for women and families in need.
September 2017
Rebecca Lewin gave a really interesting and informative presentation on her role as Director of Logistics and Procurement at PLAN International. Although the organisation is not as well known as, for example, Oxfam, it is much bigger. PLAN has many roles including focusing on economic security and disaster risk. As part of their global strategy they are aiming to transform the lives of 100 million girls.
Rebecca remarked on the problems that can arise if too many aid groups arrive at the same crisis and also the essential role that a very large fleet of motor bikes play in their work!
Club members were tasked with some scenarios to decide upon action needed. This really highlighted to us the complexity of e.g. identifying suitable suppliers to purchase goods from to provide help during a crisis, or what sort of emergency supplies are most important to get to people in need when time and transport options are limited.
For more information on PLAN International go to https://plan-international.org
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15th February 2017
Clare Roche gave members a most informative and engaging talk on domestic abuse at this month’s meeting. She started her work with young victims through volunteering with a charity which deals with sexual abuse but now works with victims of domestic abuse. She outlined the five different types of domestic abuse and informed us that 2 – 3 women each week in the UK are killed in instances of domestic abuse. Clare reminded members of the new law introduced by Theresa May which has made coercive control illegal. This covers for example, isolation, humiliation, exhaustion and fear. To conclude her talk Clare showed members two short videos and recommended the You Tube video ‘Love You To Death’.
Take a look at our Meetings & Events page to see what’s coming up for our monthly meetings this year!
To see what other topics we’ve heard talks on, causes we’ve supported, and activities we’ve enjoyed in the past, visit our Our Archive page.
