- It is an honour to be President of SI Sheffield again. I was President in 1992 -93 and again in 2015- 16 and briefly in 2017-8 when we had a shared Presidency. This will be the first time as far as I know that we have had a joint Presidency and I am honoured to share this with Gail.
- I am very grateful to Daphne who like Gail and I, was not thinking she would volunteer to be President last year– but volunteer she did and she has done a marvellous job.
- In our 99th year we will continue to have good meals together, listen to interesting speakers and work towards Soroptimist goals. Currently Gail and I do not as yet have a joint charity for the year but during 2026-7 we will of course continue to support Winn Gardens, the Refuges and Prior Bank. We will also continue with the monthly Orange cafes, usually held in Tesco. Where we can, we will make a difference to women and girls locally, nationally and internationally.
- The Executive has divided the year into thirds and has allocated each third to one of the Programme Action groups. It is envisaged that each group will lead for their 4 months, finding speakers for the social evenings and putting on fund raising and other events.
- So the new Presidential year starts with Group 2 ( Sustainable Environment and Health) who will be in charge from May to August.
- We are now a much smaller Club than when I was President in previous years. This is due to many factors but probably the greatest change has been in the way that the internet now dominates women’s lives at work and in social contexts, which Soroptimist International and indeed all of us need to embrace to make us relevant as Soroptimist women in the 21st century
- Never forget that Soroptimist International holds general consultative status with the UN and has 26 representatives full time at 7 UN centres worldwide, advocating for women’s and girls rights.