South Lancashire Region’s President, Yvonne Gibbon, was delighted recently to see her own club (SI Widnes) mentioned in a major international document. Soroptimist International’s ‘Report for the High-Level Political Forum 2020’ was compiled for the United Nations (UN). Entitled ‘The Road to Equality’ the report looked at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Women & Girls. It demonstrated how the work of Soroptimist International has contributed towards progress in achieving the Goals. The report highlighted Soroptimists’ worldwide project work aimed at women and girls. SI Widnes appeared in the section on Soroptimists’ response to COVID-19, aiding victims of violence: Hygiene Poverty: UK SI Widnes The resources available to women and children in shelters has always been limited. Many of those staying in shelters do not have a stable income, which can mean they experience hygiene poverty – where they are unable to afford items for personal

More about Soroptimists' Covid-19 projects in South Lancashire Region's two cities. SI Manchester: When Trafford Domestic Abuse Services put out an appeal for toiletries for refuge residents, members rose to the challenge. Soroptimists provided a wide range of essentials, handmade toiletry bags and shopping vouchers to purchase further supplies. The club also made a donation towards necessities for the charity’s new refuge. The club’s newsletter focussed on service projects:  Manchester Soroptimists in action Spring 2020 SI Liverpool: The club supplied 45 buckets of cleaning materials for clients of the Whitechapel Centre for the Homeless. The clients have been housed temporarily in a hotel but are now being moved out to permanent accommodation. Members also gave 15 bags of kitchen cupboard ‘starters’ - tea, coffee, sugar, oil, spices, salt, pepper, pickle, etc. This prompted a Tweet about the Soroptimists’ work from the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, too.

Widnes Soroptimists with essentials for local women's aid charity South Lancashire Soroptimists recently held ‘virtual’ regional meetings. Covid-19 action reports featured strongly. All clubs are very active during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are offering practical support to their own members – particularly those who are shielded – and to the wider community. St Helens club, for example, gave a consignment of soaps to the local homeless centre to commemorate the club’s 77th anniversary. Liverpool’s Soroptimists have supplied toiletries and household items for the Whitechapel Centre for homeless people. Widnes and St Helens members have also been busy providing buckets full of cleaning materials – and in responding to pleas for more. Leigh & District’s gift hampers for care home staff ‘made’ the local newspaper; and members gave local young carers aged 5 to 11 - so isolated at this difficult time - bags of ‘treats’.

South Lancashire’s Soroptimists made a ‘grand gesture’ to mark International Women’s Day (IWD). To illustrate the maxim “An equal world is an enabled world” members struck the equals pose. Sriya Kulupana, the Region’s Programme Action Officer said, “On 8th March we celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and, this year, the acceleration of gender equality. “However, the IWD campaign is not a one-day-a-year phenomenon. It runs all year long. “Soroptimists worldwide form a global volunteer movement. Working together they transform the lives of women and girls – every day of the year.”

‘Unclean’ and ‘impure’ – you are forbidden to cook, attend school, tend the animals or worship in the temple. South Lancashire’s Soroptimists learned about the lifestyle facing thousands of menstruating girls and women in rural Nepal. The guest speaker at the Region’s Programme Action meeting was Jenni Pizer, founder of the Tara Women’s Project. Consider – you are segregated from the family, made to live in an outside shed with others who are menstruating, and barred from touching anything for fear you will contaminate it and render it useless. That is the norm in villages where ‘Chhaupadi’ prevails. You will have no idea why you are bleeding – you have no safe, hygienic sanitary protection and will resort to newspaper, corn husks or old cloths. You are at risk of infection. You are ashamed. The Tara Project addresses this through education – the what? and

It has been an honour and a privilege to be your Regional President, I have enjoyed every minute of it, the year has certainly flown by! I enjoyed all of your Charter events but only managed to get to a few Club events and meetings, so, as I look forward to my year as Immediate Past President, I would like to visit as many Clubs as possible, gathering information and spreading ideas for Phase 3 of our Growth Plan. The more members we have, the more we can achieve! As I came out of office, Federation asked for my ‘proudest achievement’, I chose being included in ‘100 Women 100 Stories’ to showcase Soroptimism. I have now been asked to be a judge for the ‘She Inspires Awards’ by the founder Gulnaz Brennan and I look forward to working with Naz, watching and learning how to

‘Specialist domestic violence courts: how special are they?’ Dame Vera Baird QC unravelled this complex topic for South Lancashire’s Soroptimists at the Region’s Programme Action meeting. Dame Vera – a Soroptimist herself (in Newcastle) – explained how volunteer court observers, trained by the Crown Prosecution Service, observed 170 cases in Northumbria. Despite being the focus of multi-agency work, impartial observations in the court system are not routine. Therefore this project, undertaken by local Soroptimists, was ground-breaking. Using a simple questionnaire proforma the observers made notes as each case progressed. Factors included the existence/lack of practical safeguards for the victim in the court; the presence/absence of independent advisors to aid victims; guilty/not guilty plea ratios; and evidence of training of non-specialist magistrates. Over 90% of victims of domestic violence are women. The resulting report from the Soroptimists identified significant gaps in the current system, and made

Soroptimists, Soroptimists where have you been? We’ve been to London to see the Queen. Two Soroptimists from South Lancashire Region were privileged to receive an invitation to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Clare Baxter and Jane Daly are trustees of Crosby Hall Educational Trust (CHET) in Little Crosby. Coincidentally their Soroptimist club (SI Crosby) has longstanding links with CHET. The duo was invited along with other two trustees, and joined the hundreds of guests on this special day. Reminiscing they said, “We were fortunate to see many members of the Royal family and look around the beautiful palace gardens in glorious sunshine. “We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea while listening to the music of two military bands. It truly was a quintessentially English occasion.”    

The #BreakingBarriers conference attracted 40 Soroptimists from South Lancashire Region. Delegates shared the day with members of the neighbouring region, SI North West England and Isle of Man, who had organised the event. Speakers shared a variety of circumstances in which they had ‘broken through’ barriers, whether of gender, roles, ability or culture. Dr Erinma Bell from Manchester spoke forcefully about the challenge of ‘peace activism’; how she worked for many years to address gun crime in South Manchester; and how she is now furthering community partnerships in order to tackle inequalities. Her tales of feisty dealings with politicians were fascinating. Community activism is also the focus of White Ribbon (UK). Its founder, Chris Green, challenges his fellow men to face up to the role that men play domestic violence. “We need to reach out to men and lead by example”, he says. ‘Leading the