Soroptimist International Winchester supports two solar charities, Solar Aid and Little Sun. Both of whom use solar light products to light up those countries in Africa as the sun disappears in the early evening. It gives the opportunity for students to continue study at home by naturally powered light rather than kerosene lamps which can be dangerous and costly. As lamps improve this can be taken to a wider community such as lighting up a village, clinics etc. Funds are important to keep the facility going and the club organised a Solar Tea in a member’s garden to commit to our annual donations. 30 guests sat down to a sumptuous tea with help from the solar project group, diverse sandwiches, many home-baked cakes, a selection of teas and with the sun shining, it was an enjoyable afternoon. Further funds were raised through a raffle and

Summer regional meeting Come along to the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, and –   Hear from Jane Walker MBE Founder and CEO of the Purple Community Fund, which works with women and girls living in extreme poverty in the Philippines, which suffered a devasting fire in December and another in the early hours of Friday 22nd March. –   Continue the debate about a regional PAC project, and the poster we should take to Edinburgh. –   Network with other members of the region and share ideas. –   Participate in The Big Help Out is to raise awareness of volunteering throughout the UK, with opportunities for woodland walk/bird spotting or pond dipping. Cost for the day is £15 which includes tea/coffee and lunch.  Closing date for bookings, via Liz as detailed in the flyer sent to clubs, is Thursday 30 May. More information is available on this page:

To share the videos of the Bluebell Awards entries from the clubs taking part, a YouTube channel has been set up.  It can be accessed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2OZLwwLwJC01wU2a4y28SQ Further videos will be added to this channel from across the region, and we hope that it will become a valuable resource. You will recognise the sunflowers used as the profile picture for the channel from the Facebook Group for the region.

All clubs of the region took part in the Orange the World 16 Days of Activism from 25 Nov to 10 Dec 2023.  SI Bournemouth held an Art Exhibition, with more than 300 members of the public visiting and voting for their top three choices.  All entries were worthy of hearty congratulations for their creativity, thoughtfulness, and insight, but the final top 3 were announced.  SI Weybridge met up for a ‘Walk & Talk’ Café Crawl along the Thames towpath between Walton & Weybridge, with sisters from SI Woking and SI Surrey Hills. Since Christmas their have been festive greetings from SI Winchester to their Friendship Links, and SI Solent East celebrated with a, now traditional, Epiphany Dinner. Speakers visiting clubs have included Helen Stevens, who is the CEO of STARS Dorset (Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services) to SI Poole & Purbeck, and two lovely

Come along to the Business School of the University of Winchester, and Hear from Ellie Hill, of SI Winchester, who is attending the Commission on the Status of Women event at the UN in New York (CSW68) in March this year, and is “pleased to be coming to the Regional Meeting to tell you about my experience and what I have learned!” Get an update on the Volunteering in Pretoria (VIP) Regional Project. Network with other members of the region and share ideas. Participate in workshop sessions on: The future of the VIP Project; The future of Programme Action in our Region; Storyboarding our Regional poster for Federation Conference 2024. Cost for the day is £15 which includes lunch and tea/coffee.  Closing date for bookings, via Liz as detailed in the flyer sent to clubs, is Friday 8 March.

SI Salisbury 18 November Quiz night £15 includes meal, teams of six contact Quiznov23@gmail.com for information           SI Surrey Hills 18 November 2pm curling and afternoon tea event in conjunction with the local Townswomen’s Guild. Venue St Marks Community Centre, Franklyn Road Godalming GU7 2LD  £10 per person. Funds raised will be donated to The Guildford Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre. Contact Alison at sisurreyhills@gmail.com  

At the annual get together of past Regional Presidents of Soroptimist International of Southern England (known as the ‘Has Beens’) at the weekend, members wished one of their number – Ruth Healey of SI Surrey Hills – every success for her forthcoming year as Federation President of Great Britain and Ireland. The Has Beens have been meeting together for some ten years now (lockdown years excepted) and this year they decided to mark the event with a celebratory dinner. Taken together, all their years of membership of the organisation amount to some 350 years of service – all aimed at making the world a better place for women and girls. They are: left to right Sue Pritt (2000-1) Liz Batten (2001-2) Alexis Neville (2004-5) Julie Blackwell (2020-2)  Danny Sparkes (2017-18) Jackie Collins (2014-15) Ruth Healey (2015-17) Carole Atkinson (2007-8) Joyce Boorman (2006-7)  Anne Ansell (2010-11)

Winchester Soroptimists held their Harvest Supper and quiz for Solar Aid on 30 September at Littleton memorial Hall. The event was one of many which we hold to support our different charities. 35 people took part and the quiz was superbly run by members Ellie and Helen. A cash bar and raffle were also held which proved popular. As we support the Winnall Community Pantry, guests were invited to bring donations for distribution after the event. This was very well supported and will be delivered to the pantry this week. The food on offer mid-quiz was a ‘Posh Ploughmans’ and members supplied cold meats and cheeses, salads, bread and magnificent desserts. Richard Turner from Solar Aid had come to speak to the club recently and gave an update on their lighting progress. Starting off with individual solar lamps, which are supplied to low income families

Momentum is gathering for the SI Winchester Harvest Quiz. A fun way to create funds for one of our charities, the event is on Saturday 30 September 7pm and all are welcome. You don’t have to be in a team as we can allocate places on the day. There will be a ploughman’s supper with dessert and a cash bar along with the usual raffle prizes. The ticket price is £16 per person. The location is Littleton Memorial Hall which has plenty of parking and easy access. Please use the Eventbrite link where possible  but it is also possible to buy a ticket directly by contacting the club on winchestersoroptimists@gmail.com We have supported Solar Aid for many years and by growing their work they are now planning to light a whole village with their solar lights. In addition to this you are invited to bring