Bury St Edmunds Women’s Aid expands its services with hubs in Newmarket and Stowmarket

A domestic abuse charity has expanded its services after a successful pilot scheme in a Suffolk town.

Bury St Edmunds Women’s Aid is now providing safety and support for women, children and young people experiencing domestic abuse in Newmarket and Stowmarket.

The two new hubs were launched last month after a pilot scheme in Haverhill, which highlighted the need for more domestic abuse support in rural areas.

Katherine Ahluwalia, principal operations manager, said: “We can’t understand why we expect people to travel to Bury, Ipswich or Cambridge to get domestic abuse services when it can be prohibiting and restrictive.

“For example, if you look at transport facilities from Haverhill, there is one bus and it takes an hour and a half to get to Bury, so we want to get out to people.

“We’re doing this so that people can access support from one point of contact and they don’t have to travel all over.”

The expansion comes just as the charity starts preparing for its 50th anniversary later this year.

The charity also started providing support for men who are or have experienced domestic abuse.

“We started off in Haverhill, Newmarket and Stowmarket but there is nothing to say we won’t expand further,” said Katherine.

“There is a need for them (the hubs) because we’ve received an amazing feedback from local social media when we opened the hubs in Newmarket and Stowmarket.”

If you are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse and would like to access support from one of the hubs, click here to contact the charity.