Sunday 22 June saw the Race for Life in Poole. Amongst the thousands of women and girls who ran, jogged and walked were President Lynn Butterworth, Vice President Liz Rodgers and Regional Representative Jackie de Trafford. It was inspirational to be with so many participants totally focussed on raising much needed research funds to beat cancer. And with the stunning backdrop of Poole Harbour in the June sunshine, what better place to do it!

Networking and friendship are cornerstones of the Soroptimist movement and during her recent visit to Australia, Poole Soroptimist Jackie de Trafford connected up with two clubs – SI Joondalup and SI Geelong. SI Joondalup is located in Western Australia. The club was chartered in 1978 and currently has around 30 members whose main focus is maternity/breastfeeding education in Prague. The photo is of Jackie enjoying lunch with SI Joondalup members. The second Australian club that Jackie visited was SI Geelong in Victoria. Here Jackie enjoyed a lovely lunchtime social at a local restaurant in Drysdale. SI Geelong is linked with SI Barnstaple where the ladies are very supportive of the Purple Teardrop Campaign. How’s that for networking! As a momento of her visit, Jackie gifted both clubs with Purple Teardrop Campaign pin badges, posters and Loves Me/Loves Me Not bookmarks, together with an SI Poole

Soroptimist International Poole welcomed Sally Pugh, a teacher from Montacute School for children with physical, health and learning difficulties, to their June meeting. Sally took the Soroptimist group through the depth and breadth of amazing teaching and life skills that the Montacute School provides to its 75 students. Her talk, which was accompanied by a short video illustrating the many activities that the students enjoy, demonstrated the school’s aim to provide Learning, Fun and Friendship. Much discussion ensued, enriched by the presence of the mother of one of the young students. Sally went on to detail the school’s new build and the aim of ‘Monty’s Appeal’ to raise £0.5m to equip the new school with the specialist equipment and facilities that the students need including a life skills room, music room, library, sensory garden and communications technology. Pauline Monk gave the vote of thanks to

On Thursday 12 June President Lynn and Vice President Liz went to London to the End Sexual Violence in Conflict Global Summit and attended the Home Secretary’s discussion on Modern Day Slavery. It was stimulating – interrupted by a very vocal and well positioned protest regarding the cause of rape victims. The speakers were informative and precise giving quite a shocking portrayal of the plight of women – as you can imagine. The good news is that this new piece of legislation is designed as all encompassing to make it easier to prosecute traffickers and slave masters. Another very strong message that came through was collaboration – vital to track down trafficking rings across many countries. We have to all work together to solve this problem and finally the government is on board with that. The third message that struck home was that human trafficking now HAS TO go

Soroptimist Pauline Monk is the Dorset Venus Awards 2014 Influential Woman Winner. Poole Soroptimists are incredibly proud of their award-winner member. We can think of no better way to sum up the reasons why Pauline deserves her winning place than the words of Amanda Taylor from VW Breeze, sponsors of the Influential Woman category: “Wow, well this is all very daunting and unlike on all previous occasions I have been thrust into this limelight, this time I have decided NOT to wing it! As I’ve shared with some of you previously, Breeze are delighted to be the associate sponsor of such a unique award ceremony that recognises the massive contribution that women make both directly and indirectly into the business world. I am personally thrilled to be here and involved with this crucial recognition of women in the business world and couldn’t be happier to bring

Poole Soroptimists welcomed friends and family to their coffee morning to fund raise for Positive Women, a charity that supports women through apprenticeships in Swaziland, one of the globe’s poorest nations. Guests enjoyed an array of cakes to accompany their coffee and further funds were raised through the sale of plants, bric-a-brac and home-made goodies. Watch this space to find out the total raised.

Poole Soroptimists were out in force on Poole Quay on Dream Machine Evening on 27 May to collect for their Poole Quay Defibrillator Machine Appeal. The Quay was buzzing with a marvellous array of motorcycles and bikers and visitors were generous in their response to our appeal. Our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the evening’s total of £320. Download our information flyer here.

President Lynn, Past President Carol and Vice President Liz were proud to represent Poole Soroptimists at the 2014 Poole Civic Parade and Church Service on 18 May. This colourful event celebrated the start of the mayoral year for Councillor Peter Adams, the 766th Mayor Poole. President Lynn and the members of Soroptimist International Poole wish the Mayor and Mayoress a successful and happy year.

Poole Soroptimists’ hard work fund-raising throughout 2013 culminated in the presentation of donations to two local charities. Club members were delighted to give £1000 to Bournemouth-based charity, Chesthelp, which provides much needed support to local residents suffering from TB. A further donation of £250 was given to Poole Christmas Parcels Fund which provides a gift of food items to local elderly and vulnerable residents at Christmas-time.

In April, we did three environmental projects. One was in remembrance of WWI where we sowed poppy seeds in the garden of our housing association property, another involved us digging holes and planting native trees in Poole Park to form a native hedgerow, and a third assisted the Dorset Wildlife Trust beach clean at Worbarrow Bay.