Service is over

One of Deniliquin’s longest serving service groups has folded, just before its 46th birthday.Membership of the Soroptimist International Club of Deniliquin has been dwindling over recent years, and recruitment attempts have been unsuccessful.Outgoing president Pam Ward, who has been a member of the group for 30 years, said the ‘‘disappointing’’ end was ‘‘the only option we had’’.‘‘It is with a heavy heart we made this decision as a group, because we have enjoyed serving the community for all of these years,’’ she said.‘‘However, we couldn’t get any new members to join and with just nine members left, we could not go on.‘‘We are grateful for the support of our members and the community and we wish everyone the best.’’The Soroptimist International Club of Deniliquin was chartered in May 1974 with support from club members from Soroptimist International Club of Griffith.Soroptimist International is a worldwide organisation for women in management and professions, working through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women.The first club president was Mrs Elsa Zanatta, and at the time the club had about 12 members.These members were responsible for organising the Soroptimist markets which were held on one Sunday in March and again on a Sunday in October, every year.The successful markets earned a good reputation in the community and attracted more than 70 stall holders, and these markets ran for 32 years.In 1994 Deniliquin Soroptimists hired an architect to plan and design a town clock. The club raised $18,000 over a period of 18 months and a firm in Wagga was engaged to build the clock base from marble. In 1995 the clock was erected and situated, as it remains today, at the intersection of Napier and Cressy Sts.The clock was built so that the four faces faced the four different directions in town.In 2000 the Deniliquin Soroptimist Club decided to take on a project to relocate the Dr Noyes monument from Waring Gardens.It was originally located in Cressy St and contained a gas fired lamp, but the light section of the monument had been lost.So the club had a custom replica made in a design similar to the original at a cost of $2000.The project took five years to complete and the monument is currently located at the roundabout at the corner of Wellington, End and Cressy Sts.Other community projects the group has supported include the new Waring Gardens fountain installed in 2012, and working jointly with Deniliquin Rotary and Deniliquin Lions to provide a liberty swing at the RSL Park in Deniliquin in 2017, which can be used by people with disability.The local club has also held fundraisers to support individuals in need in the community, and in 2010 provided a $7000 donation to furnish a sitting room at Navorina Nursing Home - now called the Soroptimist Room.Its members sponsored an orphan in Thailand, and proudly assisted her in starting university to become a nurse.They have also supported the young people of the local area through the annual $1500 tertiary scholarship.The Deniliquin Soroptimists were the driving force behind two popular local events - the September Pink Breakfast  to fundraise for the McGrath Foundation and the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event in November to raise awareness of domestic violence issues.The decision to close the Soroptimist International Club of Deniliquin comes just weeks after Deniliquin Pastoral & Agricultural Society president Graham Doncon issued a plea for the younger generation to get involved in the long running show.He said without a succession plan in place, the committee could fold in the near future which would place the annual Deniliquin Show — which this year is celebrating its 140th anniversary — in jeopardy.Both Mr Doncon and Mrs Ward acknowledged difficulty is recruiting volunteers for such groups is not isolated to their own.