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Spring region meeting at Otterbourne Hill

Spring region meeting at Otterbourne Hill

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The spring region meeting was held on 5 March at the Otterbourne Hill care home run by Brendoncare.  Marianne Wanstall CEO of Brendoncare  (see details here) is a member of SI Winchester and she offered the venue after speaking with Region President Kay, who wanted to hold the meeting with a focus on activities. The meeting was held in the morning ending with a fabulous lunch. The afternoon activities were scheduled by Marianne  in groups and took place as described below, joining with residents and staff. Marianne spoke about ‘ageism’ and how we don’t always realise the full value of an older life. In the care home here life was enjoyed, no matter what condition you might be living with. She showed us some lovely dresses which had been made in the care home by knitting and crocheting poppies and flowers. These were made for Remembrance

A FAMOUS MEMBER OF SI BOURNEMOUTH IS CELEBRATED BY DORSET HISTORY CENTRE

A FAMOUS MEMBER OF SI BOURNEMOUTH IS CELEBRATED BY DORSET HISTORY CENTRE

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March is Women’s History Month, so is the perfect occasion to celebrate a local trailblazer who broke into the male dominated world of architecture…………….and was also a Soroptimist!  Read all about Elisabeth Scott here – Elisabeth Whitworth Scott (R.I.B.A. 1898-1972) – Dorset History Centre blog (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk)

SI EPSOM ASSIST THEIR SISTER SOROPTIMISTS IN SI LVIV, UKRAINE.

SI EPSOM ASSIST THEIR SISTER SOROPTIMISTS IN SI LVIV, UKRAINE.

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SI Epsom were privileged to be invited by Sutton Women’s Centre to their International Women’s Day (IWD) to promote the work of Soroptimists at Honeywood Museum, Carshalton. They had a stall in the building and were visited by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Sutton who showed a lot of interest in their project work. Member, Sally Curtis, gave a presentation explaining how the range of projects over the years helps women and girls, locally, regionally and globally. SI Epsom have a friendship link with SI Lviv in Ukraine which was formed in 2005 and has been supported by funds raised by SI Epsom members in support of SI Lviv’s initiative to provide necessities for an orphanage in their city. Read more about the effect of celebrating IWD SI Epsom style here. They are currently fund raising for Ukrainian refugees. If you would like to

SI EPSOM LEARN ABOUT THE EPSOM REFUGEE NETWORK

SI EPSOM LEARN ABOUT THE EPSOM REFUGEE NETWORK

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SI Epsom were joined at their club Zoom meeting recently by Jo Sherring, coordinator from Epsom Refugee Network (ERN) this week.    She told them how refugees are people who have been forced to flee because of persecution, war or violence in their own country and that they would go home if they felt it safe to do so.   She described how ERN was formed in 2015 and grew out of the Epsom and Ewell Foodbank as there were many refugees and asylum seekers who went there. ERN work with many people from Syria and are expecting 5 families from Afghanistan soon to arrive in the Epsom and Ewell Borough for resettlement.  As a result, ERN are one of the largest refugee charities in the area.   Help is offered to refugees in the form of access to translators, doctors, dentists, legal help and other

SI EPSOM’S KICK START 2022 SUCCESS!

SI EPSOM’S KICK START 2022 SUCCESS!

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Saturday evening was a great success and hopefully enjoyed by all. Alexandra, our Quiz Mistress, led us through eight rounds of interesting and sometimes challenging questions! Participants included Soroptimists from our Club, Winchester and Salisbury, as well as friends and family. Well done to our winner Sally! Approximately  £205 was raised in donations which will go towards supporting the following domestic abuse charities: Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid, True Honour and East Surrey Domestic Abuse Services. Alexandra works for Parkinson’s UK and she donated £40 to them for the quiz she used. You can view a short clip of the evening on the SI Epsom webpage here.  

CELEBRATING A MEMBER’S RECOGNITION FOR SERVICES TO EDUCATION – AN MBE IN THE 2022 NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST

CELEBRATING A MEMBER’S RECOGNITION FOR SERVICES TO EDUCATION – AN MBE IN THE 2022 NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST

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SI Bournemouth are celebrating with one of its members, Mrs Patricia Marchiori, who has been awarded an MBE for her services to education in the New Year Honours List. Pat has been a member since 2016 and was Chair of the Ambitions Academy Trust, which had been established to manage schools in Bournemouth which were failing or in need and of which there were 13 in the Trust at the time of Pat’s retirement a few years ago.  Prior to her role at the trust she was Academic Principal at the Southbourne School of English for many years so there is no doubting her experience in the educational profession! Well deserved Pat and many congratulations.

A Memorable Annual General Meeting – an MP, a video link with South Africa and busy clubs!

A Memorable Annual General Meeting – an MP, a video link with South Africa and busy clubs!

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A Memorable Annual General Meeting  – an MP, a video link with South Africa and busy clubs! Members of SI Southern England region were thrilled to hold a face to face AGM this year now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted somewhat. The venue was new and a huge success at Alton Community Centre and members look forward to meeting there again in 2022. Following the usual AGM agenda members enjoyed listening to Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, who spoke about her current role in Parliament as Chair of the Women & Equalities Committee. She is aware, and keen to support, education to both boys and girls regarding ‘consent’ that is needed and that the 16-18 year old age group deserve priority. Caroline also covered topics in her remit on the committee such as child marriage, forced marriage, misogyny, harassment and
SI EPSOM AND A HUGELY SUCCESSFUL WHITE RIBBON EVENT TO START #16DAYSOFACTIVISM

SI EPSOM AND A HUGELY SUCCESSFUL WHITE RIBBON EVENT TO START #16DAYSOFACTIVISM

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SI Epsom began 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence with a talk from Anthea Sully, CEO White Ribbon UK. Anthea started by giving us the following statistics:  from the White Ribbon movement to end male violence against women……… 1in 4 women will experience domestic abuse 1in 2 women have experienced harassment in the workplace 86% of women are harassed in public places 9 in 10 girls experienced sexist name calling or sent explicit videos in schools Almost 1 in 2 women and non-binary people reported experiencing online abuse during lockdown 120-150 women killed by men a year Anthea described violence as including: domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, rape and sexual offences, prostitution, human trafficking, child abuse, pornography, coercion and control, harassment, online abuse and threats. Read more……………  

SI Bournemouth love a good old beach clean!

SI Bournemouth love a good old beach clean!

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Cleaning up the planet……….where better to start than on our beautiful coast. On a beautiful Friday in July three SI Bournemouth members and two husbands joined the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) organized beach clean at Hengistbury Head on the Dorset coast. Alongside collecting litter from the beach, the MCS is collecting data on the type of litter to be found around our coast in order to inform policy planning. Therefore we were juggling gloves, bags, litter pickers, paper and pens so we could record our finds. The most frequently found items were packets (crisps, sweets, sandwiches) and nurdles (those little round balls of plastic that seem to be everywhere these days). More exceptional were two large beach towels half buried and very ingrained with sand, a sock, a comb and a small metal bell. We filled three bags and enjoyed the company, the views and

SOROPTIMISTS FRAMED FOR HAT FAIR

SOROPTIMISTS FRAMED FOR HAT FAIR

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Soroptimist International of Winchester took part in the Hat Fair from 2nd – 4th July which took place at the North Walls Recreation ground and the School of Art in Winchester. As part of a recruitment and membership strategy it was good to raise awareness of what the club does and to strengthen our role in the Winchester community. The club was delighted to receive a development grant from SI Southern England region which enabled its participation in this prestigious event. SI Winchester member, Julie Blackwell, said, “We were able to talk to several interested ladies and pass on information about Soroptimist International. Most people had not heard of the organisation so we want to address this going forward especially in this the organisations centennial year. We felt it would be good to be part of this fun community and in doing so talking to