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2 Contents: Chair of Trustee’s Report CEO’s Report Refuge Report Community Services Report Training Report Community Fundraising Volunteer’s Report Polstead and Poetry Financial Report Statement of Financial Activities and Auditors Statement Members of the Board Management Team Statistics Report News Highlights Thank you Lighthouse Acknowledgements Mission Statement: ‘Our mission is to support and empower women and children affected by domestic abuse or violence’ Our aim: ‘We aim to do this by raising awareness, providing a safe, supportive environment and by developing and implementing preventative and therapeutic services’ 3 After another very busy year which seems to have gone by in a flash, here I am writing my fourth report as Chair of the Board of Trustees. At the beginning of the year Louise Thomas resigned from the Trustee Board, and I would like to record my personal thanks for her support and practical advice during her term of office. Each Trustee brings a variety of different skills and experience to the role, with some of them getting involved on a more practical, day to day level. This ranges from volunteering at the Women’s Centre, in such things as admin tasks or helping to facilitate training programmes, to assisting with the updating of policies or sitting on interview panels. Many of the Trustees get involved with awareness raising for the organisation, through giving talks and presentations to interested groups, attending conferences and networking with local business and political contacts. I would personally like to thank all of the members of the Trustee Board for their valued enthusiasm, encouragement and support during the year. Notable visitors to Lighthouse during the year have included the High Sheriff of Suffolk George Vestey and the Mayor of Ipswich Councillor Jane Riley. With her legal background the Mayor was particularly interested in understanding more about the challenges our service users face in court hearings, particularly in relation to legal aid issues due to delays in the awarding of Universal Credit. In March we were fortunate enough to be shortlisted for one of the High Sheriff’s annual awards. Although we didn’t end up winning, we were nevertheless very pleased to be highly commended in the “Suffolk Voluntary Organisation of the Year – Rebuilding Broken Lives” category. We currently have a very good partnership with one of the Community Rehabilitation Companies, whereby women released from prison or who have received community sentences from court hearings are placed with Lighthouse to either carry out unpaid work or as part of a rehabilitation programme. These women are undertaking tasks such as decorating the Women’s Centre, or helping with sorting out the multitude of donations that we receive, getting items ready for when needed by our 4 service users. We have received excellent feedback from everyone involved as to how beneficial this work is, and how important it is for those women to see that they are undertaking something meaningful and useful. As ever, funding is a topic which takes a lot of our attention on the Trustee Board, as we strive to secure long term funding, and look for ways to make the organisation more sustainable. We were very pleased to receive the news in February 2019 that our application for a further three year’s funding from the National Lottery for the Women’s Centre had been successful. This sort of long term security helps us to plan for the future on a much stronger basis. As Sally explains in more detail in her report, the Refuge has continued to be exceptionally busy, as we welcome women and children from all over the country. The Trustees are very pleased to hear the success stories of women who have been helped and supported to move on with their lives and into independent living. Sadly, during the year we ceased providing the IDVA service, but this has allowed us to focus on other areas of activity, and particularly those where we can generate an income. Our range of training courses and programmes has been extended, and we are going out into the community much more, providing a variety of means of educating people about domestic abuse. I have been particularly pleased to note the success of the Expect Respect programme which has been taken into many Suffolk schools, for both primary and secondary pupils. It was a very busy year for all of the staff and volunteers, with some experienced people leaving and other staff changes, meaning that sometimes people had to step in and cover or help support colleagues as and when required. On behalf of the Trustee Board I would like to acknowledge the wonderful group of people we have working and volunteering for us across all levels of the organisation, and to say a huge thank you to all of them. They are our most valuable resource, and it is humbling to see how often so many of them will go that extra mile in support of those women and children who come to us when help is needed the most. Cynthia Glinos, Chair of the Board of Trustees 5 Over the last two years Lighthouse has seen a 24% increase in referrals in to our Women’s Centre and in the last 12 months we have supported 56 women and 91 children fleeing domestic abuse, with emergency accommodation at our Refuge. These figures are startling and indicative of how prevalent domestic abuse remains within our society. There have been times throughout the year when Lighthouse has been overwhelmed with back to back appointments for women and the Refuge has been consistently full. Our skilled and experienced team continue to provide the highest level of support for women, young people and children accessing our services, and women at the end of their support frequently comment that they do not know where they would be now without Lighthouse. They fear the worst. This goes to show how essential it is for an organisation like ours to be there. As well as providing the much needed support for victims of domestic abuse we continue developing early intervention and prevention programmes and courses. As such we have rolled out the Expect Respect programme for 5 to 18 year olds to education establishments across Suffolk. Demand for this programme is growing rapidly. In addition we offer training to external employers and human resource departments in recognising signs of domestic abuse amongst their workforce and how they can support. Again this is training that is increasing in demand. Throughout the year we have also developed our in –house training programme to ensure both staff and volunteers are trained to the highest standard in order to provide the best service. None of what we do would be possible without funding. December 2018 saw the end of a 7 year Big Lottery Grant for our Women’s Centre. However we submitted a proposal for another 3 years funding and were delighted to succeed. This, alongside other grants such as through the Police and Crime Commissioner and Ipswich Borough Council has enabled us to sustain the Centre. In addition much needed donations and fundraising activity, means that the core services within the Centre should be sustainable for the next few years. 6 Although no longer commissioned to run the Suffolk IDVA service, Lighthouse continues to receive a high level of referrals for our services. Our work with female offenders has increased and we are now at capacity for supporting these women who benefit greatly from the services we are able to offer. Despite uncertainty of how probation services will look going forward, we hope we will be able to continue with this invaluable area of work. Our refuge funding through local government is currently secure to 2020. We await the decision about commissioner’s intentions beyond that point and whether indeed refuge services will be put out to tender. These are very uncertain times for Lighthouse, our refuge has historically always been our core service and with the specialist knowledge, skills and expertise of our refuge staff we ensure support is provided at the highest level. In addition we continue to support national campaigns that encourage the government to ensure long term sustainable funding for specialist refuges such as ours. We have consulted on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill with a view to ensuring victims get the best deal possible from future legislation. At Lighthouse we are proud of our team of staff and volunteers who, without their dedication and commitment, we would not be able to operate to such a high standard or reach as many women, young people and children as we do. Partnerships are important to us and we increasingly work with partners to both fundraise, raise awareness and deliver services. In addition the support we receive from the general public, community groups, organisations and businesses through fundraising, grants and donations is invaluable to us and I would like to thank everyone who, in whatever way, helps to make our organisation what it is today. Sally Winston, Chief Executive 7 This year the Refuge has accommodated 56 women and 91 children. We welcome women of all ages / backgrounds with the most common age bracket being 26-35. However, we were pleased to have supported residents of all age ranges including some over 65’s who had experienced domestic abuse for many years before feeling able to leave. Most of the children coming in to refuge are under 12 and this year we have supported 48 under 5s. Moving into Refuge is a huge step and making women feel welcome from the start is very important in ensuring that they know that they have made the right decision.

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