Salisbury Soroptimists entered a team for the annual  Salisbury Rotary quiz.  They finished some way down the list of winners, but an enjoyable time was had by all, as the photo shows! Teresa Wells was helping on the organising committee so couldn’t join the team, but took time out from her committee duties to join us for this photo. Pictured are left to right: Barbara Evans, Liz Batten, Teresa Wells, Eleanor Evans, Eugenia Perkes and Karyl Amon Roberts

At the first meeting in our new venue, the Red Lion in Salisbury, we were delighted to welcome several brand new people. There were 18 of us in total (a record!) and we were delighted to induct three new members, Sandra Ferguson, Jane Ebel and Barbara Evans. Here is our President Elect Lisa Scandling (second from left) flanked by Sandra (left), Jane on her right and Barbara far right. They are all already involved in one or another of our project groups!  

We were very pleased to welcome two new members to the Salisbury Group on Monday 28 January. Our President Elect Lisa is flanked here by Jen Newman on her left and Annie Hotton on her right. Jen is a ‘brand new’ member while Annie had previously been a Soroptimist in a Club in Buckinghamshire. We are delighted to welcome them both!

  At our Christmas meal, we were delighted to welcome our newest member, Carole Banton. Carole has many years’ experience working with the charity Barnardos, so brings a lot of useful input, ideas and enthusiasm for our projects for women and children. Carole has already volunteered to take on the role of Club Secretary as we establish ourselves.

Salisbury Soroptimists got in the festive spirit to help out as marshals for the annual Salisbury Lantern Festival. Smart in our high viz jackets and with our flashy light sabres, we really enjoyed being part of the local community effort to help make the run up to Christmas memorable for local children. It was great to work alongside colleagues from Alabare, Rotary and Serve On, and the youngsters’ faces alight with excitement made it a memorable evening for us too! .

We all like doing quizzes at Christmas, don’t we? We thought we’d set you a STEM Christmas Challenge as part of our display at the St Thomas’ Church Christmas Tree Festival. Do come and see our tree, opening times are: Tuesday 4 December to Saturday 8 December  – 10am to 6pm Sunday 9 December 12 noon to 6pm (last entries 5.30pm)   The tree is decorated with images of local women working in STEM careers alongside images of female STEM pioneers and leaders from the past and present. Match the face and name to the description, complete a form and submit it in the entry box under the tree for a chance to win a small prize. The form is downloadable here too, and you can complete it and return it to sarumsoropts@gmail.com Entry form for Salisbury Soroptimist STEM Christmas Competition The closing date for

Our first fundraising event was a great success! The total raised was £1,160, which will give the Women’s Refuge travel fund a good start and will allow another two sewing machines to be purchased in the EdUKaid Kushona Project in Tanzania. Tickets sold out more than a week before the event and the room truly was packed. Questions for each round of the quiz as well as a fun game of chance at the meal break, were expertly introduced by Annie Riddle from Salisbury Journal. As well as teams from SI Southampton and SI Winchester there were teams of local friends and family as well as supporters from across the area who generously supported our event. There was a bar as well as a raffle, with many excellent prizes. We are very grateful to all local businesses who kindly donated items in support of our

We were delighted to welcome more than a dozen women to our open afternoon on Saturday 8 September at the Quakers Meeting House in Salisbury.     Meeting like-minded women living locally was the plan for the afternoon, and it was great to find we all shared similar aims in our desire to improve the lives of women and girls.     We are involved in supporting our local Women’s Refuge, and will be running a fundraising Quiz Night in November in support of a travel fund to help residents of the Refuge who have to travel to attend court cases. Half the Quiz proceeds will go to support a project run by local charity EdUKaid, which will help women in rural Tanzania with a sewing machines to make products to sell to fund their children’s education. Many of the women who we met at

‘Bras and bubbly’ event – ‘supporting’ a worthy cause! Members and a few potential new members joined together for a  fun social occasion with a serious message, one warm evening in July. Great conversation, laughter and discussion of our on going projects was shared over a glass or two of bubbly in Penny’s lovely garden. Then down to the slightly more serious task – bras – 400 of them to be exact – had been donated by generous local women from choirs, dance classes, yoga groups, the women’s refuge and our collection box at the Five Rivers Heath and Wellbeing Centre. We sorted, counted and packed the bras up ready for onward transport. All the donated bras will go to ‘Smalls for All’, a Scottish Charity which collects and distributes underwear to help women and children in Africa. The charity helps those living in orphanages, slums, refugee

Our speaker at the first of our new Wednesday evening speaker/supper meetings on 11 April will be Teresa Wells, Programme Director for EdUKaid. Teresa will give a presentation on the challenges children face in accessing an education in the developing world and how a small, Salisbury based, charity have achieved such an incredible impact in some of the most remote areas of rural Tanzania. The meeting starts at 7pm in the White Hart Hotel, St John’s Street, Salisbury and after a 2 course meal costing £15, there will then be a short break. If you would prefer not to eat with us you can join us at 8pm when our speaker Teresa will address us.  Do come along and join us for this new and slightly more sociable meeting! You are most welcome to bring friends to the Supper Meeting as long as you please let us know.