During the past year members of SI Sevenoaks have been busy raising funds for the education of women and girls in rural Africa (CAMFED), as well as for local charity Arts Without Boundaries. Over the summer months we will be supporting Sevenoaks Women’s Refuge and Dasghara Girls’ College in West Bengal. Soroptimist Paramita Biswas, who founded the college, tells us that financial help towards their travelling expenses would be greatly appreciated by the students, who live in remote villages. We continue to enjoy weekly zoom conversations with the girls. We are hoping for fine weather for our main fundraising event, a coffee morning hosted by Sandie Higgs at 164 Chesterfield Drive, Sevenoaks, on Tuesday 28th May from 10 am to 12.30 pm. Pauline Payne President SI Sevenoaks

SI Sevenoaks President Pauline Payne and PAO Sandie Higgs went to meet the wonderful woman who now runs the Sevenoaks Refuge, where we were given a tour of the house and garden.  We had been able to re-establish a connection with them following a Kent Police Seminar about Violence Against Women and Girls a few months ago, when contact details for the refuge had been given to us.  We are so pleased to renew our link and are now planning to raise some funds for an outdoor storage unit for the children’s toys.   In the meantime we left them with some mobile phone charger units, received at the recent Region meeting, some knitted teddies and some chocolate goodies for the families to share at Easter. Sandie Higgs PAO SI Sevenoaks

Five SI Sevenoaks members attended an International Women’s Day lunch in Sevenoaks, hosted by our Mayor, Cllr Claire Shea (pictured here with SI club members Dr Merilyn Canet and Sandie Higgs). We had some excellent speakers on aspects of women’s lives, including a boxer, two engineers and our local author Jenny Godfrey who has her second book on Suffragettes coming out soon. The event was attended by fifty percent local businesswomen and fifty percent students and young people, the former paying for the latter! A good chance to network for all concerned! Sandie Higgs PAO SI Sevenoaks

Sunday 25th February Orange the World: “A small but jolly group of SI Sevenoaks members met at the Malabar Coffee House in Riverhead to mark 25th February and SIGBI Orange the World, to draw attention to and help stop Violence Agaiinst Women and Girls.  We used some orange teddies, knitted by member Shirley Brigham.  Pictured, left to right, are Vicky Tibbits, Shirley Brigham, Merilyn Canet, Sandie Higgs and Tracey Kemp.  An obliging staff member took the photo for us!” Sandie Higgs SI Sevenoaks  

SI Sevenoaks held a very successful quiz evening at St Luke’s Church Hall in Sevenoaks on Saturday 17th February, with many members, friends and guests attending, including teams from St Luke’s Church, Arts Without Boundaries, Sevenoaks Town Council and a team led by Sevenoaks Deputy Mayor Cllr Libby Ancrum. Our Quizmaster was David  who gave us some very interesting and sometimes amusing questions!  The winners, for the third time in a row, were I-Care – a team of touring quizzers from Knockholt who donate their winnings to their charity I-Care. Member Anne Bond organised a very successful raffle and, altogether, the sum of £1,060 was raised.  This will be divided between the two charities chosen for this year by our President, Pauline Payne – Arts Without Boundaries, who support disabled and non-disabled people in our area by providing music and creative sessions, and CAMFED, an

Sevenoaks club member Wendy Metcalf is the coordinator of our weekly zoom sessions with students of Dasghara Girls’ College in West Bengal.  Recently Wendy, club President Pauline and Programme Action Officer Sandie paid a visit to the London flat of Indian Soroptimist Paramita Biswas. During a very enjoyable day our hostess told us how she used a legacy to establish the college in 2017. We have been associated with Dasghara for some two years and Paramita assured us that the opportunity to speak regularly with our members is proving beneficial to the students. As financial restraints mean that the girls only attend classes two or three times a week we are now hoping to raise money towards their travelling expenses.

Sevenoaks Foodbank (Loaves & Fishes)was set up 12 years ago by two mums who realised some children were arriving at school hungry. Soroptimist International of Sevenoaks is one of the many local organisations to donate goods. It is run by volunteers & open once a week. Rather than giving out  bags of food , the policy is now to let the families choose their items. There is a cafe offering tea, coffee & chat. Advice on further available help  is there for those seeking it

SI Bromley and SI Sevenoaks joined forces to create a splash of orange at the Polhill Garden Centre Café and we did manage to attract some attention!  Seventeen of us met for coffee and a lovely chat – so nice to have plenty of time!  The Manager and his team were very welcoming and one of the chefs came out to see us and took the photo above. Sandie Higgs PAO SI Sevenoaks

SI Sevenoaks have been collecting small and medium men’s clothes to support the Gatwick Detainees.  These asylum seekers arrive with very little and we are pleased to be able to support them with jumpers and other items.  We have a link through our former member, Beverley, and she kindly collected 4 bags of clothes on 3rd January. Sandie Higgs Programme Action Officer SI Sevenoaks

Orange the World – UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls 25th November 2023 “SI Sevenoaks have been Oranging the World again, this month at the Bullfinch pub in Riverhead, Sevenoaks – they kindly let us in early for coffee and we could serve our own cakes!  We wanted to make this one special as it is the actual UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  We had extra balloons and posters and most of the members and guests who attended are pictured here enjoying a friendly chat and, of course, the cake!  We left posters and leaflets for the staff and other guests at the pub; we are hopeful that the Bullfinch Social Media Manager will put an item on their website to help spread the word!” Club Member Programme Action Officer Sandie