Nutfield Gals WI continues work with Reigate and Banstead Women's Aid

Guest blog written by Jan Cornwell, Nutfield Gals WI Secretary

It’s been a busy couple of months for Nutfield Gals WI, we held our May fundraiser for the women’s refuge. We also invited Emma, the Refuge Manager and Play Therapist to join us for our meeting and update us on what’s been happening over the last year. May brought some amazing news for Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid (RBWA) and all other women’s refuges around the country, but more of that later!

There was as always a good attendance for our fundraiser evening, we had a raffle with some great prizes, we sold cakes (my goodness our girls can bake!), Ruth sold young plants and her homemade jams and pickles, yum! Angie, another of our members makes jewellery and donated her sales, Barbara sold handmade cards and we had a bring and buy stall. In all we raised a magnificent £650 on the night with more money coming in from those that were unable to attend, so proud of our girls their generosity and kindness is heart-warming!

Emma gave us her update and had some shocking statistics to tell us with regards to suicide and murders of women suffering domestic abuse. Three women a week take their own lives and two women a week are murdered by the perpetrator, utterly horrifying!  She also told us they’ve been forced to reduce the hours of one the women’s advocates due to funding issues, it’s a constant and unrelenting battle to find more funding from other sources to top up their budget and pay for all of the vital services they offer the women and their children. Counselling for the women, play therapy for the children, the massive cost involved in running the house, paying their rent, maintenance and replacing furniture etc, this takes a huge chunk of their budget each and every year!

The refuge employs two women’s advocates who help the women through any police, legal, medical, financial and housing issues they may encounter after escaping the perpetrator; they also oversee any counselling the woman may need. There are two play therapists who work with the children who can often be affected mentally and emotionally as a result of the abuse they’ve witnessed or experienced. They have a CEO who oversees everything and has done television and radio interviews to help raise awareness of the work RBWA do. 

Emma, the full time play therapist is also the Services Manager and is involved with seeking additional funding. Very few, if any other refuges offer this level of care and support, RBWA is exceptional in this regard but have a very strong and proven belief that this is the level of care that’s needed and that brings about successful and long-lasting results. On top of this there is an accounts person who also deals with donations, a person who looks after basic maintenance of the rooms and common areas of the house and additionally a number of volunteers. Everyone at the very least doubles up on their actual job and deals with anything that might need dealing with. The roll up your sleeves and get on with it mentality is alive and well here and in spite of what you might think, it’s a joyful and happy place!

Some great news has been announced that could change the future of refuges and give them at least some of the financial security they so badly need.

The government has set out proposals to place a new legal duty on local authorities to provide support in ‘secure accommodation’ for survivors of domestic abuse and their children, creating a new statutory system for the funding of refuges and other services within the community. 

This is fabulous news and provided everything goes ahead and the money local authorities provide is a reasonable and sensible amount, it will help to make life a little more secure for women and their children who are fleeing domestic abuse, it's not the whole answer but it's a good start!

Further information on these proposals can be found here.