Following on from the success of our monthly #OrangeCafes, this year we upped the scale of our activities to mark the start of #16days of activism. Saturday November 25th was a cold but bright winter’s morning. A group of club members met up for a ‘Walk & Talk’ Café Crawl along the Thames towpath between Walton & Weybridge. Our aim was to raise awareness of #16Days and the UN Day for the elimination of violence against Women. We were joined by Soroptimist sisters from the region as well as family members & the Outreach team from #Northsurreydomesticabuse. We met at the Cowey Sale café then we all walked & talked all the way to D’Oyly’s Café. The island setting offered a great photo opportunity on the bridge across the river. Even the tree in the background was orange! We were all wearing orange & armed with handouts & orange balloons to walk the towpath. The Orange procession attracted attention & we stopped to spread the word. ‘Keep up the great work’ was heard many times.
We are also marking the #16DAYS with a presence throughout Weybridge to amplify the campaign message. We have raised flags on Monument Green and in Cobham, these will remain in place across #16DAYS. The notice board on the flagpole will sport campaign messages updated regularly along with a QR code directing passers-by to our website. Posters are evident too in The Weybridge Hub, library, post office and a couple of news agents. Our friends in St James Church also kindly put up a notice for us.
Thanks to prospective member Mo, Councillor Judy Sarsby made contact and offered A1 posters sites on Weybridge Community Totem Poles on the High Street. The hard-hitting image chosen will attract attention especially on the totem pole outside Waitrose. We have used this image consistently across posters & social media.
Thanks to all who came along and engaged passers-by in conversation. It was great to see SI Sisters Jan from Woking & Louise from Surrey Hills not to mention new SIGBI president Ruth. It was lovely to see Fiona and daughter Alexandra carrying on the family’s Soroptimist legacy. Ideas were exchanged and learnings too. Watch for our social media images and messaging over the next 14 days.
Follow our Facebook news at https://www.facebook.com/SoroptimistsElmbridge.
Pop along to Squires Hersham on December 11th 10.30am to chat to local women planning a STEM schools project.
Come along to one of our monthly meetings to see what we are up to.