President’s message
Welcome to the London Anglia Region pages of Soroptimist International.
I am delighted to be President of this wide and diverse region of Soroptimist International. We have eleven clubs across the region, which are widely spread, but we enjoy meeting each other and work together well.
Whether you are browsing and looking for a women’s campaigning group, or already a member, please take time to read about our clubs. If you think we sound like women you’d like to work with, please get in touch.
Our main work is called ‘Programme Action’, and includes our international work through the United Nations. In common with Soroptimist clubs throughout the world, we use our members’ knowledge and expertise to campaign for improvements in health, education and justice for women and girls.
We support two schools in Malawi - we have a direct contact with them, so are sure that our money is well spent and our help is effective. All our clubs raise funds to contribute towards our international Quadrennial Project, Project SIerra.
Programme Action across the UK includes support for our Violence Against Women - STOP IT NOW! campaign. We work with the local Women’s Aid centres, which offer refuge from domestic violence. Additionally, each Club President chooses a local project as a focus for the club’s own fund-raising. The need is great - with fewer women able to give time outside their jobs, we have to work together.
This year, I hope our region will:
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Complete the toilet blocks at our Malawi schools,
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Collect books and toys and save for the future shipping costs,
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Step up our VAW-SIN campaigning.
As a region we are actively recruiting! I have been a Soroptimist for many years and during that time I have learned a great deal about this unique organisation. I have enjoyed every challenge and every project we have tackled. In my view, the best thing about Soroptimism is the friendship. Soroptimists enjoy the true friendship of like-minded women with one aim - to improve life for women and girls here and abroad. That’s a great goal and I’m proud to be part of an organisation with that at its heart.
Come back to our pages regularly and see what our clubs are doing in your area. We have clubs in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, East London, Enfield, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Norwich, Southend-on-Sea and Sudbury, Halstead and District. You can link to each club website here or through the SIGBI home page.
Margaret Sandercock
November 2009