On 26 June 2019 – a very hot and busy Parliamentary day- three Woking Soroptimists took part in the OPEN UP Mass Lobby organised by Women in Prison (WIP). The date coincided with the first anniversary of the Strategy for Female Offenders and the action was intended to promote the implementation of the strategy. [More about this at www.womeninprison.org.uk]. We went with representatives of the Woking Women’s Support Centre to the Houses of Parliament for a meeting scheduled with our local MP, Jonathan Lord.   Supporting the campaign on 26 June meant not only an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of implementing the new Strategy for Female Offenders, but also to meet some of the 200 Mass Lobby participants, including one of our sister Soroptimists from SI Yorkshire.  And an opportunity to see the New Dawn window installed in the Houses of Parliament last

SI Woking & District organised a Soroptimist Action event on 20 June 2019 at Trinity Church in Woking: a showing of ‘In the Name of Your Daughter’, a documentary by Giselle Portenier about the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Tanzania.  The film is not always easy to watch but proved illuminating about the ritual, its origins, patterns and how to eliminate it. The film was brought to us by Julian and Ann of the Tanzania Development Trust.  We were really impressed by the support given by the Tanzania Development Trust to the efforts in the Mara Region to eliminated female genital mutilation. The very attractive items brought from Tanzania to sell during the evening proved irresistible – so we are delighted to say that the Hope for Girls and Women, Tanzania NGO, which leads the campaign against FGM in the Mara Region, will