Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District plus friends (2 and 4 legged!) will be singing carols and festive songs at St Albans City Station from 6pm to 7.30pm in aid of the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and Herts Rape Crisis.The Club … Continued
Tag: women’s group

Co-Housing, World Toilet Day, Refuge Gifts and more…
Wow – that was a busy evening! On Mon 11 Nov we had speakers from OWCH Older Women’s Co-Housing, reports back from the Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland Conference in Bournemouth and Soroptimist International London Chilterns Region, a bottle … Continued

Inspirational Soroptimist Conference in Bournemouth
Five Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District attended the annual Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) Conference this year in 24-26 Oct in Bournemouth – they are pictured here from l to r Becca Powell, Denise … Continued

Five new Toilet Twinned Loos in St Peter’s Church St Albans
St Peter’s Church has recently refurbished their toilets and installed a new disabled one. Reverand Mark Dearnley, Vicar of St Peter’s and Natalie Liley, Churchwarden are pictured standing in the new disabled toilet holding the twinning certificates. They had seen … Continued

Fabulous Friendship Link Visit to Muenster
One of the benefits of being a Soroptimist is having a massive family of sisters all over the world strengthened by Friendship Links between Clubs. SI St Albans and District has four Friendship Links – click on this page to … Continued

Visit to the New Maynard Gallery in Welwyn Garden City
On Wednesday 21 August four Members of the Club visited the New Maynard Gallery in Welwyn Garden City. President Katherine Clark is a Trustee of the gallery. Katherine showed Amanda Brown, Sarah Lichman and Jane Slatter the display space available … Continued

Twinning Four New Toilets at St Albans Cathedral – part of the revo-loo-tion
Three Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District, the local branch of the global women’s organisation, were delighted to present Sub Dean Abi Thompson with four framed Toilet Twinning Certificates for the new toilets at St Albans Cathedral. Pictured … Continued

Student Volunteers Jenny and Sanaya Welcomed to Club Meeting
Jenny Scotland from Harpenden, one of our student volunteers, has now graduated from Bristol University. Jenny came to our Club Meeting to reported back on her ICYE Inter-Cultural Youth Exchange 2 month project in Bolivia last year. Before she went … Continued

Hot Soroptimist Womens Conference
On the hottest day of the year attendees of the Soroptimist International London Chilterns Region Conference had their thoughts provoked by two inspirational speakers Janet Fyle MBE Policy Adviser at the Royal College of Midwives www.rcm.org.uk/promoting/professional-practice/violence-women-girls/ and Ruby Raut CEO and … Continued

Harpenden Child Contact Centre and Dress a Girl Around the World
On Monday 24 June Brigid Brennan, Chair of the Harpenden Child Contact Centre HCCC www.harpendenchildcontactcentre.org.uk visited us to tell us about the services they provide. A Child Contact Centre is a safe, friendly and neutral place where children from separated … Continued

New Members and My Other Hat Evening
We had a really inspiring and enjoyable Club Meeting on Monday 10 June. Mary Moran was officially welcomed to the Club. Mary is a poet, she moved to St Albans from the US many years ago and her family were … Continued

Women’s Refuge supported at Wesley Coffee Shop
Pictured here are St Albans Soroptimist baristas Jean Eaton, Janet Audley-Charles and Joan WIlliams with John Powell, our Member Denise Powell’s husband, who completed the team on the 1 June. Joan Williams and Wesleys have both been nominated in the … Continued

Alisha Mirza, Inspirational ICS Volunteer, reports back from Tanzania
On Monday 13 May we were delighted to welcome Alisha Mirza back to the Club to report on her trip with ICS International Citizen Service www.volunteerics.org to Kamachumu in Tanzania. To see Alisha’s presentation, which includes lots of wonderful photographs … Continued

Katie Waite Fundraising to attend the World Scout Jamboree in USA
The Club was delighted to welcome Katie Waite to their meeting. Katie is from Girlguiding Hertfordshire and runs a Girl Guide group in Radlett. She is fundraising to attend the World Scout Jamboree for 3 weeks in West Virginia USA 22 … Continued

Quizzically Successful Night
The Soroptimist annual quiz night was a great event as always! We raised close to £750 for the St Albans & Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield Women’s Refuges plus charities providing learning opportunities for women and girls. Well done to the … Continued

WINNER!! Soroptimist Club Wins St Albans Mayors Pride Award in the Voluntary Sector
Soroptimist International St Albans and District Club Members are proud to announce that the Club won the St Albans Mayor’s Pride Award 2019 in the Voluntary Sector category. The first picture is of the three finalists (Soroptimist Jane Slatter is … Continued

Are Women Their Own Worst Enemy? Inspiring Womens Day Debate
Are women their own worst enemy? an International Women’s Day debate… The panel and audience discussed the question: Are Women their own worst enemy? the answer: yes and no – it’s complicated! St Albans Soroptimists and sponsors, *The Talent Keeper Specialists held … Continued

St Albans Pancake Race a Flipping Success
The St Albans Pancake Race in aid of HomeStart Herts was a great success! Seven Soroptimist volunteers (pictured here) helped with the registration on the day. To find out more about the event please see the website pancake.events Amanda Brown (Soroptimist group pic … Continued

Club Welcomes Two New Members
It is always a great Club evening when it is our pleasure to welcome new Members. The 11 Feb was twice as good because Pauline Swindells and Ann Beatty both joined the Club at the same time! Pictured here (l … Continued

Two Toilets Twinned at St Albans Museum and Gallery
Following Soroptimist International St Albans and District World Toilet Day event last year (please see the web page for more about it www.sigbi.org/st-albans/2018/toilet18/ ) we have been able to present St Albans Museum and Gallery with another Toilet Twinning certificate so now … Continued

Refuges, Life Talk, Blankets, Birthday – what a busy Club Open Evening!
On Monday 28 Jan we were thrilled to be able to make donations to the St Albans and Hertsmere and the Welwyn Hatfield women’s refuges. Sara and Liz from SAHWR are pictured to the right of President Linda with a cheque for £1000. Unfortunately … Continued

Women’s Refuges supported at Wesley Coffee Shop
Pictured here are St Albans Soroptimist baristas Janet-Audley-Charles, Judith Kenyon, Helen Byrne and Joan WIlliams. Coffee mornings at the Wesley Coffee Shop are a great way for us to swell the coffers for our Club’s charities – on 12 Jan we … Continued

100 pounds Easyfundraising Prize | Pants for SmallsForAll
In November our Club signed up for EasyFundraising please see the SIGBI website for more info www.sigbi.org/members/clubs/easyfundraising/ When the Club signed up were were entered into a prize draw and St Albans & District Soroptimists were the lucky winners of £100 … Continued

A Moving Human Rights Day Region Celebration
Members from Soroptimist Clubs in the London Chilterns Region and their guests attended a moving Human Rights Day event on Saturday 15th December. Five Members of SI St Albans and District attended – please see the photograph here with Janet … Continued

Christmas Gifts for Womens Refuges
Our Soroptimist elves have been busy again buying and wrapping up personal Christmas gifts for the women at the St Albans and Hertsmere and the Welwyn Hatfield Women’s Refuges. Santa’s got a right sackful here! We know the women are thrilled … Continued

Womens Refuges Benefit from Soroptimist Christmas Carols
We hope we gave the St Albans commuters a bit of Christmas cheer with our annual Soroptimist carol singing on Mon 3 Dec at St Albans City Station. We collected a much-needed £380 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and the Welwyn … Continued

Soroptimists Volunteer on Watling View School Christmas Stall
This year Watling View School for pupils with profound learning difficulties have had a Christmas Stall on Wednesdays for 5 weeks from 14 Nov to 12 Dec on St Albans Market 10am to 2pm. Students from the school made and … Continued

Toilet Twinning and World Toilet Day 2018
On Monday 12 Nov the Club held a lively and busy meeting to mark World Toilet Day with a bottle sale, speaker and presentation of a Twinned Toilet certificate to Caroline Eldred and Cllr Annie Brewster from the St Albans Museum … Continued

Mental Health Challenges For Women – Event for World Mental Health Day 2018
On Monday 8 Oct we had a brilliant evening to mark World Mental Health Day and we now all understand so much more about the mental health challenges facing women. We looked into the many aspects of mental health including … Continued

Wildlife Trust and FoodSmiles – captured our environment themed evening
On Monday 24 Sep Soroptimist International St Albans and District Club held a Wildlife and Environment Themed Evening. Our Guest Speakers were Wendy Hartnell from Herts and Middlesex Wild Life Trust and Janet Bruce from FoodSmiles (pictured here are Janet on the left, Wendy … Continued

New Term, New Member Jude and ICS Volunteer Alisha
We had a lively meeting on Monday 10 Sep – it was the perfect opportunity for Club Members to catch up after the Summer break. The first thing we did was to welcome Jude Kenyon as a new Member of … Continued

Novel Bookstall Raises Funds for Refuges on Literacy Day
The Club marks International Literacy Day every year selling 2nd hand books on St Albans market. On Sat 8 Sep this year the event raised more than £230 providing much needed funds for the St Albans & Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and the Welwyn Hatfield Women’s Refuge … Continued

Knitting with Benefits
This year Club Members have been knitting squares to make blankets. We had “knit-ins” at Amanda’s which were very sociable and chatty occasions. Away from the “knit-ins” many of the knitters found the knitting to be therapeutic. One of our … Continued

Three Club Summer Outings – Theatre Plus Exhibitions in St Albans and Camden
The Club doesn’t meet formally in August but we had three summer outings which were both entertaining and interesting and provided a perfect opportunity for some Members to catch up with one another! The first enjoyable outing was on Sat … Continued

WINNER! Soroptimist St Albans Wins SME Hertfordshire Business Award
Great news! Our Club won the SME Hertfordshire Business Award in the “Not for Profit Business of the Year” category Please see the website for all the information – hertfordshireawards.co.uk The Club’s Membership Officer and local business woman Amanda Brown (pictured here) proudly … Continued

Soroptimists Successful Partnership with Harpenden Lions for the Highland Gathering Raffle
St Albans and District Soroptimists supported the Harpenden Lions at the annual Harpenden Highland Gathering selling the Prize Draw Charity Raffle tickets. This is a partnership arrangement where Soroptimists share the workload with Harpenden Lions to great effect. Pictured here are Soroptimists … Continued

Domestic Abuse and Options for Victims – interactive evening
Mary McEvoy, Partner and Head of Divorce and Family Law and Notary Public at Neves Solicitors in Harpenden came to the Club in June and spoke about: – Development of the Law in the area of domestic violence – Current … Continued

New St Albans Museum includes Soroptimist Name
The new St Albans Museum and Gallery has opened! It is in the old Town Hall building right in the centre of the City. Soroptimist International St Albans and District made a donation of £250 towards the development of the … Continued

Does Population Matter? – evening about population growth and the sustainability of the planet
On Monday 14 May a lively group listened and engaged interactively with Steve Bown’s talk “Does Population Matter?” on the consequences of human population growth to our planet. Steve Bown is a doctor and trustee of the charity, Population Matters – which … Continued

Women and Men Voted Soroptimist Quiz Night a Winner
The Soroptimist Quiz had a theme this year around the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. The Quiz Masters (pictured) really entered into the spirit by dressing in period costumes plus rosettes and sashes in the women’s … Continued

St Albans Soroptimists Mark International Womens Day
The Club marked International Women’s Day with three different and varied events this year – what a wonderful way to mark the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote! On 8 March, International Women’s Day, St Albans Soroptimists … Continued

Inspiring Club Open Evening – Home and Away
Members of Soroptimist International St Albans & District held an Open Evening to explain more about the work that Soroptimists do to make a difference to the lives of women and girls locally, nationally and internationally. We had Soroptimist speakers, … Continued

Club Welcomes 2 New Members, plus update about both Refugees and Refuges
Club Members were delighted to start the new year by welcoming 2 new Members Alison Jarvis and Helen Clothier. They are pictured here l to r with Amanda Brown, Membership Officer who introduced Alison who is standing next to her, … Continued

Soroptimist Tree at St Saviours Christmas Tree Festival
Members of Soroptimist International St Albans and District decorated a beautiful Christmas tree which was on show at the St Saviour’s Christmas Tree Festival. 95 trees were decorated by local community groups and businesses and were displayed in the church until … Continued

Canine Star Brings Success for Carol Singers at St Albans City Station
This year’s annual Soroptimist Christmas carol singing at St Albans City Station was a great success raising £516.20 for the St Albans and Hertsmere Women’s Refuge and the Welwyn Hatfield Women’s Refuge – and it was great fun too! We were joined by Jules … Continued

Understanding Cyberstalking Will Make Women Safer – Fascinating Evening in St Albans
Staying Safe Online: the truth about Cyberstalking – an event for 16 Days of Activism to end gender based violence On Monday 27 Nov our Soroptimist women’s group, Violence Against Women Team hosted an event at the Maltings Theatre St Albans … Continued

New Members, Cambodia Volunteering, Refuge Gifts, Toilets, Coats and Bras!
Wow – what a busy Club Meeting we had on Mon 13 Nov! It was our last regular meeting before the New Year – and just about all our Members were there – making the evening really buzz with activity! … Continued

Collecting Bras and Bottle Tops
The St Albans Soroptimists are collecting barely worn bras and new women’s and children’s knickers and pants (in packets please). This is part of the “Smalls for All” initiative – sending underwear to Africa to help women and children. Please … Continued
Collecting Bras and Bottle Tops
The St Albans Soroptimists are collecting barely worn bras and new women’s and children’s knickers and pants (in packets please). This is part of the “Smalls for All” initiative – sending underwear to Africa to help women and children. Please … Continued

Step Up, Lead the Way – Brilliant Soroptimist Conference Cardiff October 2017
Over 1,200 women from around the world gathered at the magnificent Wales Millennium Centre on Cardiff Bay to listen to inspiring speakers and to share ideas and energise each other through networking and friendship. Olympian Katherine Grainger DBE, Britain’s most … Continued