Inside the changing world of domestic abuse support in Newcastle

IT started with a group of volunteers offering victims a place to stay when they were no longer safe in their own homes. But 50 years on Newcastle Women’s Aid has evolved into a lifesaving charity that continues to keep women and girls affected by domestic abuse safe and empowering them to escape cycles of violence and control.

- By SOPHIE DOUGHTY

Tragically five decades after it was founded Newcastle Women’s Aid is now as busy as ever. But as society, and abusers have changed over the years so too has the charity, which started by simply offering emergency refuge to those in need before transforming to provide a range of services from its city centre base.

And today, as the charity prepares to mark its 50th birthday, Chief Executive Elaine Langshaw has explained why its work is more vital than ever.

She said: “Fifty years on, fortunately we are still here, but sadly there is still a need more so than ever.”

Newcastle Women’s Aid was founded in 1975 by a group of local people who had been taking victims of domestic violence abuse into their own homes to keep them safe. They went on to ask the council to provide accommodation for women suffering abuse and the authority gave them a building in Newcastle's West End that would go on to become the city’s first ever women’s refuge.