Kids for Kids – November 2024 – October 2027
Following the completion of our 5 year project to raise funds for Toilet Twinning (8 latrines and a toilet block!), we will now be supporting Kids for Kids, a charity based in Dorking and supporting rural villages in North Darfur, Sudan. We will be using a £1,000 prize won by the Club together with funds raised by members using purchases via Easy Fundraising. We have committed to helping 5 children each year at a cost of £500 per year. This will pay for school uniform, shoes and education for a year for each child.
Godalming Town Show May 2026
SI Surrey Hills will be hosting a tombola stall at the Godalming Town Show & Carnival on Saturday 30 May. We will be raising funds to support our projects but are also happy to chat about the work of the Club and Soroptimism. We’re more than happy to receive donations for our many projects:
- mini size toiletries and new flannels that we will use for our packs for the Palliative Care Unit at the Royal Surrey County Hospital;
- donate to the purchase of cleaning products which we use to create a welcome pack for those joining YourSanctuary, the Surrey refuge
- donate 5ps to support the interns training with the help of South African Soroptimists
- gently used bras and new knickers to Smalls for All
- and most of all by playing our tombola!
Saturday 4 November 2023 – Member Ruth elected as SIGBI President
SI Surrey Hills is delighted that our member Ruth, has been recently elected as President of Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland. She will now head the Federation with its 8,000 members, spread across 350 clubs in 29 countries for the next 2 years.
Ruth, has been a Soroptimist since 2003 and has played an active role in local club projects such as Smalls for All and supporting the local women’s refuge, as well as serving as Regional President of Southern England from 2015-17. She used her skills to organise and run the annual conference of the organisation in Brighton in 2011, and has since delivered the role of Finance Director for the Federation’s Conference in Cardiff in 2017. In 2018, she was elected as Finance Director and in 2022 became President Elect.
Ruth says, “I’m delighted to be able to use my business skills and experience to help this organisation, which works so hard to transform the lives of women and girls worldwide. I am particularly excited to be able to help the Federation address the challenges associated with the recent granting of charitable status.”
Ruth’s grandmother, mother and aunts were all members of Soroptimist International in South Wales and her cousin is a member of Soroptimist International of Swansea.
SI Surrey Hills reaches 65!
SI Surrey Hills was delighted to celebrate our 65th birthday in 2024. To commemorate the occasion we held a lunch party in April at Myrtle’s Courtyard, deep in the heart of the Surrey countryside. The lunch was attended by Soroptimists, both local and visiting, family members and friends. A display of photographs, newspaper cuttings and minutes from meetings held decades ago disclosed a wealth of forgotten insights into the club’s previous activities and provided food for discussion and reminiscences.
We were honoured to have as our guest speaker Fiamma Pather, CEO of Your Sanctuary the Surrey refuge. The owner of Hampton Estate and former Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey, Bridget Biddell also joined us. And our very own SIGBI President Ruth gave an overview of our 65 years of Soroptimist action. We all enjoyed the delicious buffet and fizz, with the celebrations continuing long after the final guests had left!
