Projects are generally known as Program Action. We have a number of projects running in the club and we encourage every member to get involved in at least one of them. Which one would you like to join? Time commitment varies according to project and events. Please speak to the project leader to find out more. You can just help for one event or be involved for the duration of the project.
Each project has its own web page – click on title to go to that project.
Following the murder of Sarah Everard we decided to look at women’s safety in and around Salisbury. We held a one-day conference which brought together numerous local organisations with a shared interest in a safer Salisbury. The conference was well attended and set out steps for taking the initiative forward.
Since then we have conducted night audits of the central city to see where it seems too dark (often because street lights are not working – these have been reported) and what can be done to improve the feel of the streets. This audit was repeated in February 2023 and report submitted to the City Council. We repeated the same audit in February 2024 and will be reporting again to the City Council.
A School Forum took place to talk to both girls and boys about acceptable behaviour, consent and keeping safe when out at night – see here. This was followed up in 2023 with another event during Orange the World.
We promoted the project at an event in the Guildhall.
A successful conference was held at the Guildhall on 1st October 2022.
This year we are focussing on raising awareness of domestic violence, bystander training, self defence and another Schools’ Forum. We plan to create toolkits for employers and sports clubs. Find out more here.
We have already repeated the streetlight audits (see above).
We are very proud that this project won the Regional ‘Bluebell Award’ and a Best Practice Award at the SIGBI conference.
Project Leader: Liz Batten
On International Women’s Day in March 2020 we launched Her Salisbury Story , a Heritage Fund supported project which aims to bring Salisbury’s heritage alive through the celebration of the lives of Salisbury’s women past and present.
Most of the project took place during various Covid lockdowns so research had to be online rather than in libraries or museums. Over 50 women’s profiles have been uploaded to the website. We developed a walking tour which was published as ‘Her Salisbury Footprint‘. The winners of the writing competition were announced at our celebration event in October 2021. Around 12-13 club members were involved in the project, so it was a significant commitment for the club as a whole.
The promotion phase included giving talks to local groups, offering guided walking tours and attending events like the Chalke Valley History Festival in June; see the report here.
This project has been showcased by Salisbury Museum in a six month exhibition (November 22 to April 23) highlighting some of the women along with artefacts illustrating their stories. The public response has been gratifying and it has generated traffic to our website.
Our annual quiz night enables us to continue to support our local Women’s Refuge and local charity EdUKaid. This charity has set up a girls’ club in Tanzania as part of the Heshima Project menstrual health programme with the aim of educating and empowering girls to improve their life chances.
Project Leader: Barbara Evans
During May and June we collect pre-loved (gently used) bras for distribution to women in Africa through Afreebra. They tell us that wearing a bra gives a woman dignity and for many are a luxury item.
The main collection points are Five Rivers Leisure Centre and 60 Endless St, but members are encouraged to assemble their own collections and bring them along to our fun ‘Bras and Bubbly’ event.
We sort, count and pack the bras we collect for transportation to the charity at ‘Bras and Bubbly’ event in July.
A record breaking collection in 2023!
Project Leader: Penny Joyce
In support of the UN campaign involving 16 days of activism with the aim of eliminating violence against women and girls, each year we try to raise awareness in Salisbury. We have focussed on domestic abuse; signposting support services, encouraging employers to train staff to recognise the signs of abuse, White Ribbon training to recruit Male Allies and helping victims to speak out.
Each year members donate gifts for children at the refuge to select and wrap for their mothers. This has been a great success.
On 16 March 2020 the final judging and award ceremony of the Salisbury Soroptimist STEM Challenge took place at the South Wilts University Technical College, Wilton Road, Salisbury.
The annual competition for 2021 was cancelled because of school closures.
In 2022 the disrupted school year once again made the challenge difficult. However the team from Godolphin School were able to complete the challenge and submit their project. An award event was held to congratulate the team and distribute certificates and the trophy.
We also helped organise a careers event for local schools to enable girls to speak to women in STEM professions.
It you would be willing to take part in such future events, please email sarumsoropts@gmail.com
Each year we decorate a tree for the festival in St Thomas’ Church.
This project is in development. More news soon!
Lobbying – trying to become more effective and pro-active at lobbying as a club.
Letter writing – we felt that writing letters generally, was something that was easy for members to do from home. SI Surrey Hills talked about their project writing letters to cancer sufferers via the “From me to you” charity – www.frommetoyouletters.co.uk . This is not a pen pal scheme and the charity finds recipients for the letters. There is another charity that writes letters to those in prison – www.cleanbreak.org.uk/news.write-2-connect
Twiddlemuffs/masks – whilst we are no longer making any projects, if any members are interested in knitting or crocheting twiddlemuffs or sewing masks, please let Eleanor know. We will be able to either donate them to good homes, or sell them to raise funds.
For projects which are no longer active, please see our Project Archive.
