I’m delighted to announce that ‘The Soroptimist Story’, our exhibition about Soroptimist International (SI) since 1921, is now installed in Surrey History Centre. Entry is free and you can visit until 5 November 2021. Opening times and directions here. October is the anniversary month of the founding of SI, so there are special celebrations throughout the month.
In our Club , we are celebrating the long service of another member, Sue Solly, this month. Sue joined us fairly recently but she began her Soroptimist experience twenty-five years ago in the Midlands. She has been a very active Soroptimist ever since. Together, our four recent long-service award-winners – Anne, Sue S, Jennie and Audrey – have notched up a fantastic 130 years of service!
Friendship is one of the founding values of Soroptimist International. So we are delighted to have forged a new friendship link with the Soroptimist International club in Durham. We are looking forward to many interesting exchanges with the members of SI Durham. We were very pleased to find in their latest newsletter some very useful tips on identifying stalkers, for example.
Community service is another founding value of SI, so we were pleased to contribute to two charities recently. Our first donation went to Surrey Care Trust to help a young local woman get a job.
Our second donation was to the project of our sister Club, SI Thames Valley. This donation is more poignant, because an orchard will be created in Sierra Leone in memory of our Federation President, Johanna Raffan. Johanna was leading the orchard project but a few months after becoming President , she died suddenly. The Kori Project will now serve as a memorial to her.
Lucie Tulip, our invited speaker in September, spoke enthusiastically about the work of Greenpeace to encourage climate-friendly actions. We can all help by eating less meat and dairy, and avoiding fast fashion. Useful reminders ahead of the COP-21 conference in Glasgow in November 2021.
During this Centenary year, we have been telling the story of the Soroptimist Movement month by month in Club News. We’re enjoying looking back at what we have achieved since our Club – a comparative youngster – began in 1976. On other pages, you can read more about the national centenary celebrations and cameos of some of our members.
Sincere good wishes,
Katharine Heatley, President SI Woking & District, on behalf of co-presidents Moira Grieve and Norma Empringham
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To find out more about our initiatives and projects, get in touch via the Contact Us page on this website or via Twitter @WokingSorop and Facebook.
If you want to be actively involved – by joining our Club, or attending our events, we will be delighted to hear from you – With you, we can do so much more!-
Photo acknowledgements: Prawny, Alexas, Niederwimmer, Wixin Lubhon, Gordon Johnson (Pixabay)