Soroptimists from across Wiltshire joined together on Friday 23 October to attend the EVAWG Summit arranged and staged by the End Violence Against Women and Girls Wiltshire coalition.
Queen Camilla was a surprise visitor to the early part of the event and organiser Lady Fiona Lansdowne told us all that the Queen had been her inspiration for this event. Describing herself as a ‘Wiltshire girl’, Her Majesty added her voice to the call from a range of excellent speakers that Wiltshire could and should lead the way in making a real impact on ending violence against women and girls for other areas of the UK to follow.
Jess Phillips MP captured the feeling in the room at Marlborough College when she said: “Let the girls of Wiltshire think about their netball and not be worrying about what they should post online”. She went on to stress the importance of all agencies working together to tackle the issue and said “We should treat every woman we serve like our sister. Let’s make Wiltshire the best place to be a woman or girl.”
Members of Swindon and Salisbury Soroptimist Clubs were pleased to be enabled by the organisers to distribute copies of the Wiltshire Fresh Thoughts booklet to all 400 delegates at the Summit, which was extremely well received by everyone in attendance.