President’s Welcome
Welcome to our web page.
The North West England & the Isle of Man is a diverse region including one club (SI Douglas) on an island, several in the former industrial areas of East Lancashire (including my own, SI Blackburn), some on the West Coast of the county, others in Cumbria and the beautiful Lake District.
We are renowned for being a very friendly and hospitable region whose members meet at Lancaster University on a regular basis “to make a difference”.
I have chosen as my charity for the year the North West Air Ambulance. Their work and dedication can also make an enormous difference, sometimes between life and death. This organisation, I feel, is very worthy of our support.
At the heart of all we do is Programme Action - our work, activities or projects. Together as a region in recent times we have embarked on an anti-slavery march, supported the Purple Ribbon Campaign and are working with SI Kumba in the Cameroon, but we also have separate projects undertaken by individual clubs or groups of clubs– we are all different, yet working together with enthusiasm we can achieve so much.
Our goal is to see women and girls having equity and equality, safe and healthy environments, access to education and the chance to develop leadership and practical skills.
As my theme for the year is “Looking Further”, I hope we are trying to ensure that what we have, and sometimes take for granted, is within the reach of women and girls worldwide. Having spent the whole of my working life in Education, I am conscious that to be educated is to be empowered.
I consider myself very privileged to be the Regional President, especially having taken office in Barbados, a truly memorable and uplifting experience.
I would like to encourage club members to attend regional meetings and conferences. They really do put Soroptimism into context and make us realise what a wonderful organisation we belong to and what incredible work is undertaken throughout the world by Soroptimists.
Marie Blacktop