Wigan Soroptimists and Winstanley College
Early in December, Angela Holmes, President of Soroptimist
International Wigan Club and Kathleen Moran, met with Personal Tutor
Amanda Asbridge to plan for the continuation of the partnership to
support girls at Winstanley College through the well-established Avril
Fishwick Mentoring Scheme.
Avril Fishwick OBE was a high profile Soroptimist in Wigan. She was a
well-known Wigan solicitor, Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester
and was awarded the Freedom of Wigan Borough.
The mentoring scheme was set up to mentor potential professionals
towards successful outcomes. Topics such as interview tips, personal
statement writing and well-being have been explored.
There are nearly 72,000 Soroptimists worldwide working on projects that
help improve the lives of women and girls locally and internationally.
Our Wigan club has recently planted 100 trees in the borough. We
support Wigan’s Domestic Abuse Service through DIAS and Wigan and
Leigh Hospice. Wigan Soroptimists founded the Ashton, Leigh and
Wigan Osteoporosis Support Group. We have been involved in a
project with a Bristol University student researching the procedures and
processes involved in specialist domestic violence courts across the UK.
We also raise thousands of pounds per year to support our charities.
Soroptimist International (SI) and SIGBI both have consultative status at
the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations (UN),
which gives us a voice on important discussion papers, and allows us to
attend the Commission on the Status of Women in New York each
March, and contribute to the “Agreed Conclusions”.
We support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by
all United Nations Member States in 2015, providing a shared blueprint
for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the
future.
Thank you to Winstanley College for helping us to raise our profile
locally. We are looking forward to working with you in 2023 and
hopefully beyond.