Launch of Lighthouse’s 45th Anniversary
Lighthouse’s 45th Anniversary year was launched on 24th November at our Women’s Centre in Berners Street, Ipswich.
We were privileged to have in attendance Mark Murphy ( Lighthouse Patron), Edward Creasy (High Sheriff of Suffolk) and Tim Passmore (Police & Crime Commissioner). A beautiful cake baked by a member of staff was cut by Sally (Lighthouse’s CEO) and Mark Murphy to commemorate the occasion and a staff member was given a Long Service Award by Edward Creasy, for 35 years at Lighthouse.
A Business Breakfast Webinar was held in the morning on zoom at 8:30am - 10am, with a number of different business and agencies interested in attending. They heard about how domestic abuse has no boundaries, the effects of the pandemic on domestic abuse, the different types of abuse including coercive control, effects on victims and their children as well as how to deal with a discloser of domestic abuse and where and how to signpost for support.
Lighthouse Trustees also embarked on a wonderful project to mark the 45th, coming together with supporters and women that have been supported by Lighthouse to produce a stunning quilted wall hanging. Each square was personal to the maker and all the individual squares were stitched together by Zoe at Crafty Baba, in Ipswich and quilted by Val and John of Daisy May Quilting.
Lighthouse was initially called Ipswich Women’s Aid and was established on 13th November 1976, backed by a £2,500.00 grant from Ipswich Borough Council, Ipswich Women’s Refuge officially opened in Argyle Street, Ipswich, it was staffed by 10 volunteers. This was after two years of work as in 1974 the women’s section of the St John’s Ward wanted to commemorate International Women’s Day by starting a women’s refuge in Ipswich, the initial proposal was sent to Ipswich Borough Council in 1975 and a year later the refuge opened. Between 1976 and 1979 the refuge housed 262 women and 421 children, within ten years that figure had increased to £1,389 women and £2,089 children but it was clear that there was more need as victims were being turned away.
After years of campaigning Ipswich Borough Council purchased another building and Ipswich Women’s Aid refurbished it and were able to open a second refuge to house another eight families. By then Ipswich Women's Aid had 2 refuges and 3 full time members of staff, but was still assisted by vital volunteers. In 1991 an out-reach worker was employed to help families when they were ready to move on from refuge and into a home of their own.
Despite opening a 2nd refuge, in 1992 more than 90 women had to be turned away due to lack of space, as the demand for refuge space became overwhelming. Ipswich Women’s Aid called for further funding. By 1998 both refuges had housed 2,432 women and 3,024 children. In 2000; backed by a £455,000.00 Lottery grant, Ipswich Women’s Aid opens a new purpose built refuge with room for 15 families, a playroom and associated offices, the new refuge was officially opened by the Mayor of Ipswich, Cllr Don Edwards. This allowed the families in Argyle Street and the 2nd refuge to move into the more modern purpose built refuge.
Sally Winston joins as Chief Executive in late 2009 the time was right for the whole service to be reviewed and the needs of victims reassessed. In 2011 Ipswich Women’s Aid celebrated it’s 35th Anniversary of providing safe and supportive refuge in Ipswich, and to mark this occasion Ipswich Women's Aid became Lighthouse Women’s Aid, this was just the start of some very exciting plans, as the National Lottery awarded Lighthouse £300,000 to open a Women and Children’s Centre in Ipswich. This centre opened in 2012 and would be a one-stop shop for women in Suffolk to get help and advice around issues relating to domestic abuse…...continued
The Centre runs courses such as The Freedom Programme and Self Esteem programme, and is a meeting point for all women in the local community. The new centre means more people are able to access our services but more widely it will become a safe and supportive environment for all women in Suffolk so they can come together to develop more self-confidence and gain new skills. In 2015 Lighthouse won funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner to launch and develop the Independent Domestic Violence Advisor service to provide additional support to high risk male and female victims of domestic abuse. 2017 brought the start of our training service, providing training to businesses, agencies and charities to raise awareness of domestic abuse and ensure victims are heard and signposted onto Lighthouse for specialist support. In addition Expect Respect was launched and Lighthouse goes into schools and education settings to deliver sessions around healthy relationships.
In March 2020 the whole country went into a Covid 19 lockdown leaving women and children at greater risk of abuse. Lighthouse continued to offer telephone support to both current service users and new clients who were seeking advice and guidance and the refuge also had to lockdown meaning no further women and families could flee and women and families ready to move out had to stay put for a little while longer. Lighthouse’s Freedom Programme, Power to Change and training services were launched virtually and proved a huge success in providing the programmes and services that are still very much needed.
Even with the pandemic looming over the world Lighthouse pushed forward implementing additional support for clients, bringing back face to face courses where safe to do so and re-starting the mums and children’s courses. Work takes place to refurbish the refuge as it is now 20yrs old and local workmen kindly played a huge roll in replacing all three kitchens and local community groups and business helped with our relaxation garden for the mums and our toddler play area for the little ones. Now it is time to look to the future and plan Lighthouse’s next steps and look at what further support can be offered to help combat domestic abuse and support those affected by it.
