Our Heritage
From our inauguration in 1960, the Swindon & District Club has grown from strength to strength, supporting women and girls locally in Swindon and Wiltshire, nationally and internationally for over 60 years. Our club regalia comprises an enamelled badge and sliver chain.
Our club is part of the South West Region (SW) (formerly the South West & Channel Islands Region (SWCI)); now stretching from Cheltenham and Cirencester in the North; to Bristol and West-super-Mare in the East; to St Austell and Kernow in the South. There are currently 13 clubs in the SW Region.
The SW Region is part of the SI Great Britain and Ireland Federation (SIGBI).
Six of our members have been elected as President of the former SWCI Region and other members have been involved at SIGBI level organising 2 SIGBI Annual Conferences. Members have also filled other roles at Region and SIGBI level.
Our project work is diverse, supporting the main pillars of Soroptimism in Education, Environment, Health and Well-being, and Economic Independence. These over-arching aims encompass our club’s overall emphasis against Violence and Domestic Abuse. We have supported the Swindon Refuge since it was set up in the 1970s and other charitable organisations by way of donations of money and goods.
We have celebrated many achievements including influencing the change in the law on pornography; 10 years’ service at the BIG Breakfast Club for the homeless; raising over £100,000 for local and international charities; held a public Cancer Awareness event highlighting skin cancer; held 2 public Health & Well Being Days and were only the 2nd club asked by Dame Vera Baird to do Domestic Abuse Court Observations, which became UK wide and culminated in a key report on Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts.
From time to time we hold speaker meetings, with fellow Soroptimists and non-members, at which charities and other organisations of interest give presentations, in a face-to-face or Zoom meeting. Examples include Age Concern, the NSPCC, the Alzheimer’s Society, the Wilts Air Ambulance and the Youth Adventure Trust. We have supported many of these organisations financially, with goods or just by spreading the word.
