I was invited to attend the Soroptimist’s Annual Lunch at the Regency Park Hotel on Sunday 30 March and the invitation included proposing a toast to Soroptimism after the Loyal Toast. I decided not to go and do this without knowing something about the organisation. I had of course had contact with the organisation at one of their coffee mornings and at the Pancake Races, so with the aid of a Google search and the Oxford Reference English dictionary, I had sufficient facts to enable me to say something really relevant. I duly arrived with Edwina Cooper and were welcomed by Angela Spellman, the President. We also met a number of the members and their husbands before lunch. Amongst them were Irene Rodrick and her husband Roy, who was one of my former work colleagues at AEA Harwell and Sylvia Grimwood and her husband Allick, who is a fellow member of Probus.
We went into lunch and Joyce Platts said the Soroptimists Grace; for food, friends and fellowship, thanks be to God. After an excellent lunch, Angela Spellman invited Janet Wycherley, the Treasurer to propose the loyal toast. After that, I was invited to propose a toast to Soroptimism. I said that my research had elicited from the website that the word soroptimist is derived from the latin word Soros meaning sister and optima meaning best, and loosely translated as being best for women. However the Oxford Reference English Dictionary it states it to be sister plus optimist. I said that whichever one you would choose, it well described your organisation and your members for whenever I had attended any function you had organised, your members had been both the best and optimistic. What I had also discovered was that the Soroptimists were founded in Oakwood, California in 1921 by 80 women and mirrored the aims of Rotary formed in Chicago in 1905 for business and professional men with the aim to promote charitable work. I continued by saying that the early 1900s were very exciting times for women in England with the suffragettes campaigning for the vote and as a result of their actions, won the vote for women over the age of 30. Ten yeas later, women had equal voting rights with men. I said that I had little doubt that these momentous events were the seeds for promoting the Soroptimists in this country. I said that I was unaware of the local club’s membership but having attended a coffee morning and attended the Pancake Races in the Market Place, from which the Club raised hundreds of pounds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, it said a great deal about the strength and organisational skills which your club and members possess. I concluded by stating that without such organisations such as your, the Town and the nation would be much worse off. I then proposed the toast to the Soroptimists.
The President of the London Chilterns Region, Sylvia Watson then responded and indicated how valuable it was to have local clubs such as Newbury which kept the organisation in the public eye and raised money for charity.
The guest speaker was Jack Shovel of the RNLI who gave an account of the RNLI, what it was, how many life boat stations it had and how they managed to keep the boats up to date. He stated that they refuse to accept Government money as they would basically interfere with the organisation and how it is operated. It relies on donations to keep the boats on station and it is therefore important that they have many volunteers and supporters who raise the money. He also had brought with him photographs of different types of lifeboats. It was a most interesting speech which was well received. Following Katy Hawthorne’s vote of thanks, a cheque for £2000 was presented to Jack Shovel for the RNLI.
It was a great occasion and we thanked Angela and her committee for their kind hospitality and wished them well for the future.
We went into lunch and Joyce Platts said the Soroptimists Grace; for food, friends and fellowship, thanks be to God. After an excellent lunch, Angela Spellman invited Janet Wycherley, the Treasurer to propose the loyal toast. After that, I was invited to propose a toast to Soroptimism. I said that my research had elicited from the website that the word soroptimist is derived from the latin word Soros meaning sister and optima meaning best, and loosely translated as being best for women. However the Oxford Reference English Dictionary it states it to be sister plus optimist. I said that whichever one you would choose, it well described your organisation and your members for whenever I had attended any function you had organised, your members had been both the best and optimistic. What I had also discovered was that the Soroptimists were founded in Oakwood, California in 1921 by 80 women and mirrored the aims of Rotary formed in Chicago in 1905 for business and professional men with the aim to promote charitable work. I continued by saying that the early 1900s were very exciting times for women in England with the suffragettes campaigning for the vote and as a result of their actions, won the vote for women over the age of 30. Ten yeas later, women had equal voting rights with men. I said that I had little doubt that these momentous events were the seeds for promoting the Soroptimists in this country. I said that I was unaware of the local club’s membership but having attended a coffee morning and attended the Pancake Races in the Market Place, from which the Club raised hundreds of pounds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, it said a great deal about the strength and organisational skills which your club and members possess. I concluded by stating that without such organisations such as your, the Town and the nation would be much worse off. I then proposed the toast to the Soroptimists.
The President of the London Chilterns Region, Sylvia Watson then responded and indicated how valuable it was to have local clubs such as Newbury which kept the organisation in the public eye and raised money for charity.
The guest speaker was Jack Shovel of the RNLI who gave an account of the RNLI, what it was, how many life boat stations it had and how they managed to keep the boats up to date. He stated that they refuse to accept Government money as they would basically interfere with the organisation and how it is operated. It relies on donations to keep the boats on station and it is therefore important that they have many volunteers and supporters who raise the money. He also had brought with him photographs of different types of lifeboats. It was a most interesting speech which was well received. Following Katy Hawthorne’s vote of thanks, a cheque for £2000 was presented to Jack Shovel for the RNLI.
It was a great occasion and we thanked Angela and her committee for their kind hospitality and wished them well for the future.
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