January 2021 – 100 years, Dame Ethel Smyth, Community policing, vulnerable children, domestic abuse, New Beginnings
January 2021 and the start of a new year. We hope it will be crowned with success in every respect for everyone. Then and Now – 100 years of Soroptimism The journey began a hundred years ago, just after the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic. Soroptimism can be hard to pin down. In the 1940s a Soroptimist said: ‘We don’t know how to define Soroptimism – but we recognise common sense when we see it.’ Perhaps the Queen Mother hit the nail on the head. At a Royal Garden Party to which Soroptimists were invited in 1960 (during the London Convention), she is believed to have said “Soroptimist is a giving thing!” 1921-1931 Soroptimist Movement Throughout the second half of the 19th century, women were increasingly active in society. This trend intensified at the start of the new century. After the First