The Soroptimist International of Torquay & District was founded in 1941 in the middle of WW2.
The name Soroptimist comes from the Latin “soror” meaning sister or woman and “optima” meaning best, so “The Best For Women” or possibly “The Best of Sisters” is both the name and ethos of what is now the world’s largest women’s service organisation.
Soroptimists are all about education, empowerment and enabling opportunities for women and aim to ‘make a difference’ .
We meet on the first and third Tuesday in the month at 7.30pm at the Rosegarth House in Tor Church Road, Torquay, we either have a Business meeting or a Speaker meeting. At the Business Meetings we discuss matters relating to Our Club or Region and International matters, which have been communicated to us by Federation, we arrange our fundraising and work in the community. At the Speaker meetings, we invite a Guest Speaker to give a talk on varying topics of local, national or international interest.
These speakers sparked our fundraising work and this year at the Garden Party we were pleased to be able to donate cheques to Rowcroft Hospice, Children’s Hospice South West and the international Meru Garden Project.
Whilst members and guests were enjoying a delicious cream tea at Rosegarth, retired member Penny Crump planted the ‘Benstar’ Soroptimist Rose in the garden and Regional President Di Steele cut the ribbon on a bench, inscribed in memory of past members ‘A life that touches others goes on forever’ .
This year we have also been able to support the Backpack Project, Macmillan charity, Friends of South Devon College, the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Centre, Bowel Cancer Awareness month, we host coffee mornings for the LIGHT group and have sent over a hundred hand knitted ‘fish & chip’ baby vests to the International Aid Trust. At Christmas we helped ANODE provide needy families with a food hamper. We recently appealed on our website for knitters to help us knit Twiddlemuffs for people suffering from dementia, we will be visiting the Memory café in Barton soon to donate our muffs to Norman McNamarra.
Members have also been involved in the Network City to Sea 53 Event, Rowcroft Sleep Walk and Cockington Fayre. For our members as well as wanting to give something back, Soroptimists also provides a social meeting place with other women, our group combines hard work with fun and friendship, we have been known to enjoy meals out, visits to the theatre and the odd cream tea!
Our afternoon was made complete as we listened to the beautiful singing voices of a cappella chorus ‘Yours in Harmony’
We have a growing network of members and hope our work will continue for years to come. To find out more contact torquaysi@gmail.com