I really enjoyed attending the ISSBA Spotlight event at the University of Suffolk at the end of October, it was informal, interesting and really allowed members to have discussions at an-depth level. It was extremely interesting to hear the stories behind business success, diversification and of course to hear the eagerly awaited recovery plans of River Hills. It was also very encouraging for me that a number of members were keen to sign up for the free Domestic Abuse Awareness training in March 2024.

I would like to encourage more of you to sign up because the statistics are so appalling, we meet will people at some point in our lives who are impacted by Domestic Abuse. It is therefore  important that we know how to respond because often, our instinctive response is not helpful.

Merie has set up the registration, so please put the date in your diaries and register for your place now. If you would like to email me, please do: debra.gingell@lighthousewa.org.uk

As you know we are ISSBA’s charity of the year and will have a stand at the wonderful Anglia Business Event in May.  With the help of Merie, we plan to run a large scale raffle at the event to raise much needed funds for Lighthouse. To that end, we will be making an ask/plea to members for some raffle prizes, if anyone would like to step up and offer one of the top prizes, please do email Merie or myself who would love to hear from you. The prizes can be goods, services or cash and the quality of the top prizes will dictate how high we can set the price for the raffle tickets and therefore impact how much we can raise at the event. Lighthouse will of course promote the givers of prizes at every opportunity throughout the event and thank them in our Lighthouse WA Newsletter.

Our training really makes a difference, please see the impact statement from Christies Care below:

“The recent domestic abuse training, delivered to us by the Lighthouse Women's Aid, has had a profound impact on our leadership team. Through its comprehensive content, we gained an understanding of the staggering number of individuals affected by domestic abuse and the significant toll it takes on their lives. This training equipped us with invaluable knowledge on how to support and signpost those experiencing such trauma.”