Our guest speaker for May was Margaret Williams, Coordinator of the Hampshire and IOW Fawcett Society. She explained that the group don't have meetings but get together online as they are widely spread. They campaign on issues of misogyny and equality. The Fawcett Society is named after suffragist Millicent Fawcett. A statue of Millicent was unveiled in Parliament Square in 2018, 100 years after women achieved the vote. It was the first statue honouring a women in that famous place. Millicent has a tenuous link to Salisbury, by marrying Henry Fawcett, renowned reformer, who was born in the city. He had proposed to her sister, Elizabeth Garrett, who refused him and went on to become the first woman doctor. The Fawcett Society is open to men and women. Members collaborate to campaign on topics such as equal pay and pensions, calling out misogynistic comments and

AGM 2026 We began our AGM with the usual reading of the Soroptimist Vision and Mission  and noting apologies. We then welcomed our guest speaker. ZABRA - Afreebra Initiative The founder of Afreebra, Jeanette Kruger, joined us by Zoom. Jeanette explained how she started this idea. She found that she could not donate bras to charity shops and the charities which collected bras mostly sent them to fabric recovery sites, rather than reusing them as bras. Jeanette is from South Africa and therefore knew that millions of women on that continent have trouble putting food on the table each day for their family, let alone being able to buy themselves a bra. So next time she returned to South Africa, she took her spare bras with her and easily found new homes for them. She gave a number of bras to a housemaid to take

A group of Salisbury Soroptimists joined a large audience in Salisbury Cathedral for a lively talk by Professor Janina Ramirez about her latest book Legenda. She was delighted to be in the Cathedral on International Women's Day speaking on such a relevant topic. Speaking entirely without notes Janina dazzled everyone with tales of medieval women who had not only held their own but had excelled in their time. This latest book tells the stories of women who have subsequently been adopted by various ideological interests and thereby had their stories distorted. Legenda follows an earlier book, Femina which explores the many roles of women in the medieval world. They were not confined to the kitchen and child rearing. Archaeological evidence shows women buried with weapons and valuable artefacts, demonstrating their high status in the society. We discovered the importance of dressing for the cold of

John Glen MP, along with around 60 people, attended the launch at Wiltshire College & University Centre of “Fresh Thoughts”, a new information booklet aimed at guiding Wiltshire survivors of Domestic Abuse (DA) through the complex legal process after having the courage to flee their abuser.  The booklet was devised by Poole, Purbeck and District Soroptimists who supported their local Women’s Refuge and realised victims had little information about what was going to happen next. “Fresh Thoughts” provides practical information about what to expect if you are going to court as well as online personal safety, financial assistance, housing advice and contact details of local support agencies. The aim of the booklet is to educate, empower and enable victims to take back control and move forward with their lives. The issue was highlighted in Parliament with the introduction of the Government’s strategy towards halving violence