Woman who has spent decades helping Calderdale's most vulnerable women bids fond farewell

The CEO of WomenCentre Calderdale and Kirklees has helped thousands of women when they needed it most and, in some cases, saved their lives.

The centre – which last year celebrated its 40th birthday – offers a huge range of support to ensure women can feel free and safe.

A key part of that is the help they give to victims of domestic abuse – getting women, and men, out of harms way and supporting them to rebuild their lives.

"I occasionally might bump into somebody that I helped all those years ago,” she said.

"We were at the gala a few weeks ago and two women came up and both said ‘thank you, you saved my life’.

“That’s not an uncommon comment from the women who we support.

"When you do a job like this, you do it because it’s important.”

Angela came to Calderdale in 1987 as a child protection social worker.

It was just a few months into that role that she became aware of the WomenCentre – then named the Calderdale Well Woman Association.

She started working more closely with the WomenCentre in 1997 after joining the Probation Service.

"Probation were very forward thinking in terms of domestic abuse and their approaches to it,” she said.

"I could understand why because I was seeing quite a lot of domestic abuse, either towards women who were the partners of the some of the men I was working with or women who I was working with.”

When a secondment opportunity arose to set up a domestic violence support project, Angela was keen to take it.

"My colleagues told me I must be crazy because it was for a six-month project, to set it up, to get staff and volunteers, to do training, to do one-to-one work and group work, and to get money for it to continue,” she said.

The project required a safe space to support women, and the WomenCentre fit the bill.

By the early 2000s, Angela and her colleagues had managed to secure more funding to provide support to domestic abuse victims, including £1m from The Big Lottery, which enabled WomenCentre to move from three sites into one large building in Halifax town centre.

It was at this point that Angela left her post managing the domestic violence support project and started working for WomenCentre, firstly as deputy CEO and then as CEO.

“WomenCentre didn’t have a great deal of money at that time but we started to build up more and more services,” said Angela.

In 2008, Calderdale Well Woman Association merged with Women Space in Kirklees – a move which has sustained vital services in both boroughs.

WomenCentre has gone on to offer groundbreaking and nationally-recognised work, including expanding to promote women’s mental health, piloting help for victims of adult sexual exploitation, and working with girls and younger women across Calderdale and Kirklees.

But Angela’s time at WomenCentre has not been without its difficulties.

"Securing funding for women’s organisations is quite challenging. It’s not anywhere near what other organisations get,” she said.

And she added that frightening statistics about women being killed by their partners are still just as shocking.

"When I started in domestic abuse work all those years ago, two women a week were murdered by their partner or former partner,” she said.

"That’s not changed. That’s not changed over the years.

"Whilst there’s been so many improvements in policing and in multi-agency partnership working, we’re still seeing women who are being murdered.

"And we are now seeing some recognition that some suicides may be linked to domestic abuse.”

Angela’s work has earned her several awards, and she says seeing mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin and deputy mayor Alison Lowe identify the safety of women and girls as one of their priorities has been among her career highlights.

But being able to help women when they need it most has been the most rewarding part of her work.

"Some people come in and their lives have been rocked by whatever they have been through,” she said. “That might not just be domestic abuse. They might have had significant traumas in their lives, they could have had bereavements.

"If we can have helped them in some small way, those have always been highlights.”

Angela said she wanted to thank everyone she has worked with at WomenCentre and alongside from other agencies and organisations.

"You can’t do a job like the one I’ve been doing if you don’t have a very strong support within your home and your family,” she added.

Community Foundation for Calderdale CEO Steve Duncan paid tribute to Angela’s work, saying: "It has been a privilege to work alongside Angela over many years, and I am proud to call her a friend as well as a colleague and a fellow Leeds United fan!

"Her leadership, integrity and unwavering commitment have left an immeasurable legacy, not only through WomenCentre but across Calderdale's voluntary and community sector.

"She will be sorely missed, and I wish her every happiness and success in the next chapter of her life."

For more information about WomenCentre Calderdale and Kirklees visit https://womencentre.org.uk/

Calderdale Staying Safe p rovides help for victims and survivors of domestic abuse at https://calderdalestayingsafe.org.uk/ or by calling 01422 323339. The national domestic abuse helpline can be reached on 0808 2000247.