In 2016, at the height of Operation Sanctuary, an investigation into child sexual exploitation and modern slavery, our club contacted Northumbria Police to find out how we could offer support. Victims of abuse and trafficking often had only the clothes they were wearing so our club began putting together new start bags and care bags which give some clothing and other items to women and girls when they were very vulnerable. Since 2016, we have provided 132 new start bags and 127 care bags. At the Northumbria Police Awards Evening on 24th March 2025, we were honoured to receive a Chief Constable’s Commendation recognising the contribution the new start bags and care bags have made to women and girls and some of our members were delighted to attend on behalf of the club to receive the award. Thank you to everyone, members, friends and the

As Mother’s Day approaches, we are delighted to be able to send gifts again for women supported by Harbour. We hope that the gifts remind them that we care. Women supporting women is a powerful thing. Thank you to all members who donate, shop and deliver.              

Our club marked International Women’s Day on 8th March by handing out roses to women in Whitley Bay, Tynemouth and North Shields. Our roses are an opportunity to recognise the many and varied roles women have across all aspects of our communities and to say thank you. They are also a reminder that there is still much work to do to ensure that rights, equality and empowerment are real for all women and girls. Our club will  join Soroptimists across the world to campaign all year round for these aims.  

At our club meeting on Monday 10th February, our guest speaker was Anna Heslop, Volunteer at Cullercoats RNLI and Regional Lifesaving Lead. She was joined by her mother Kay Heslop who also volunteers as Operational Lead at Cullercoats RNLI. Anna spoke of her first encounter with the RNLI after she witnessed a teenage boy being swept out to sea. This sparked an interest in her which led to her volunteering at Cullercoats. As the only woman there, she encountered many obstacles along the way but persevered and eventually became their first Helmswoman. She has become a role model and the Cullercoats station now has 25% female volunteers. She also works for RNLI as Regional Lifesaving Lead for the coastline between Berwick and Burnham on Crouch in Essex. Anna and Kay were presented with a donation of £200.

The 16 days of activism may be over but our club continues to campaign to end violence against women and girls. Members hosted our first Orange Cafe of 2025 on Saturday January 25th, meeting this time at Big Local in Whitley Bay. Thank you to all members who arranged and supported the event. It was a great opportunity to raise awareness about this important issue and we certainly turned this corner of North Tyneside orange.                                                            

In the last few days, we’ve raised the amazing sum of £735.80 for Harbour, our local refuge.  Some of the money raised will be used to buy gifts for the women and their children who will be spending Christmas at Harbour. At our Christmas meeting, held this year on 9th December, it’s a tradition that we also make up gift bags of toiletries and pampering products which Harbour staff take out to women they work with in the community. This year we made up 36 bags to go out to women with our love and support. Thank you to members, family and friends who donated items.        

This year’s SIGBI conference was in Edinburgh and 13 members headed north to enjoy a weekend of Soroptimist activity. It was great to meet members from the UK and further afield and some of the projects other clubs have been working on are truly inspiring. We heard about work ranging from setting up a hydroponics agriculture scheme in a girls’ school in Trinidad, support for migrant women in Canterbury and an anti-bullying campaign in Barbados – and so much more. The work of our region was well represented in the display of posters and Jan passed on the baton of leading the region to the new team. There was, of course, plenty of time for fun and friendship – and the odd cocktail. Thanks must go to Cynthia for organising hotels, Sue for booking the marvellous restaurants and Shirley and Jan for their work on

We were delighted to welcome two new members at our September club meeting, Rachel Lloyd Giles and Bilkis Begum. Our club has welcomed several new members over the last few months and it’s great to see the Soroptimist movement thriving in North Tyneside. Together we can make a difference to the lives of girls and women.                      

Our target for the concert on 1st June was to raise £1000 for North East Support and Grow. Did we achieve this? Yes! We raised the incredible amount of £2,460 – more than double our target. Thank you again to the choirs and members for making this such a memorable evening, and to all those in the audience who supported us so generously.  

Oh what a night, 1st June 2024. After many months of planning, our concert to raise funds for this year’s club charity, Support and Grow North East, took place in St George’s church, Cullercoats. In this magnificent setting, two local choirs, Compass Acapella and Tyneside Acapella enchanted the audience with a range of songs, from golden oldies to the contemporary.  Thank you to everyone who supported the event and for your generosity in buying raffle tickets and at the bar. Huge thanks must go to our members who organised the evening; it takes a lot of hard work to make such an event run so smoothly. The choirs were magnificent; enjoy a little of the music in the videos below.