UPDATE: We raised just over £7K for victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking. Aurora would like to extend our thanks to all who walked, donated and raised awareness on the night.

Victims of domestic abuse walk on hot coals every day in fear of aggression and violence from perpetrators. On November 28th 2014, Aurora New Dawn staff and supporters will be undertaking a challenge to walk on hot coals to raise money for victims and survivors of domestic abuse.

Shonagh Dillon, Chief Executive of Aurora New Dawn is taking the challenge along with several members of the team.

She said, “For the last 5 years, we’ve run the Reclaim the Night March in Portsmouth to raise awareness of violence against women in Portsmouth and the surrounding area. This year we wanted to do something different.

“We decided to undertake the Hot Coals challenge to highlight the daily experience of victims of domestic violence and their families, who walk on hot coals every day with the threat of violence to keep themselves safe and avoid harm.

“At the same time, we’ll be raising money for the White Ribbon campaign, which brings men and women together in the struggle to end violence against women.”

The campaign urges people to take the White Ribbon pledge “never to commit, condone, or remain silent about men’s violence against women in all its forms.”

You can sponsor Shonagh via Just Giving or share the link with your friends and spread the word.

To find out more about supporting White Ribbon and Aurora New Dawn, or about the Hot Coals challenge, email us at info@aurorand.org.uk

Approximately 200 people flocked to Portsmouth Football Club for a night of eating, drinking, dancing and merry-making – all in the fantastic cause of raising money to support victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

A range of games throughout the evening raised awareness of the complex reality of violence against women and girls (VAWG), hidden violence and gender-based violence.

A Special Auction gave rise to some incredible donations to Aurora New Dawn with guests bidding for a wide range of fantastic gifts, including an Albert Square street sign signed by the cast of Eastenders, a professional race-driving session at Silverstone, and acting lessons with Doctors actor, Matt Chambers.

Chair of the Board, Sally Jackson, Aurora patron Lauren Jarron, and Chief Executive Shonagh Dillon gave speeches throughout the evening about different aspects of Aurora’s work and its importance as part of the global fight against VAWG and the ongoing struggle for equality and gender justice.

Patron Lauren Jarron explained the increasing importance for the voluntary sector of finding pioneering partnerships with private sector organisations looking for innovative ways to improve or expand the remit for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

“There is a strong synergy between Aurora’s mission and my beliefs, which is why I am so happy to be involved their work.  I believe every individual has a right to a future.  

 

Aurora aims to “End discrimination against women through offering protection, safety, support and empowerment” and I want to empower women to realise their true potential – to have a positive impact for themselves, and for society – culturally and economically.” 

 

Chair of the Board of Aurora New Dawn, Sally Jackson, highlighted Aurora’s work in the context of the global struggle of women for equality and justice.

Chief Executive Shonagh Dillon gave the closing speech before officially opening the dancefloor for the night, with a powerful reminder of why everyone came together at the Ball:

2 women every week die as a direct result of domestic violence and abuse. Two women. Every week.

 

It’s hard to connect with when it’s a faceless statistic, isn’t it? But look around the room with me for a second. Now imagine that if all of us met again here next week, two women would be gone. The following week two women more. The week after, two women more.

 

How long would it take before there were no women left in the room?

 

How many women would need to disappear before we were all shouting about it to the world?

 

Two women disappear from the lives of their friends and loved ones every week. But instead of disappearing from this room, they are disappearing from the UK.

 

A specially commissioned poem, Aurora, was read by Writer in Residence, which you can read here.

The first ever Butterfly Ball raised an incredible £7,000 for Aurora New Dawn. This money is already being used to fund the every day organisational costs of Aurora, providing the infrastructure that supports our frontline service delivery.

In this increasingly difficult funding climate, organisational costs are becoming more of a challenge for the voluntary sector as a whole, due to the fact that grant funding is often awarded on a project-by-project basis.

This means our fundraising activities are becoming more and more important to enable the daily support services (admin, management, and finance, for example) that allow our frontline workers to support victims and survivors.

“These are difficult times for the voluntary sector as a whole, and particularly for VAWG services due to the disproportionate impact of the government’s cuts programme on women, and particularly on specialist services supporting victims and survivors,” said Shonagh.

“It’s really no exaggeration to say that we couldn’t survive without our supporters, and this has made the success of our first ever fundraising Ball particularly poignant for me, and for our frontline Advocates. We owe everyone who supported the Ball a huge ‘Thank you!'”

For one night in Portsmouth, we came, we chanted and we made the streets safe for women.

And what a night it was.

This year’s march saw over 250 women, men and children taking to the streets, carrying some of the best banners we’ve seen so far and without doubt, the best dancing. Special mention for White Ribbon volunteers Yaz and Corina, who led the march with some of the best dance moves we’ve seen in quite some time.

While we’re on the subject of credit where it’s due, massive thanks go to Batala for setting the pace of the march with their signature drumming, to all our speakers and performers and to the ever-faithful band of White Ribbon volunteers whose combined efforts make the event possible.

But of course, our biggest thanks go to everyone who attended – because it’s you that make the difference by shouting out that Pompey will not commit, condone or stay silent about violence against women and girls.

This was our fourth march, but the second year White Ribbon has celebrated local activism with its Outstanding Achievement Award. And the winner was Solent Feminist Network – a group comprised entirely of volunteers who have led on and supported some of 2011/12’s biggest campaigns against VAWG.

This year also saw a special award to our very own Chief Executive, Shonagh Dillon – in recognition of many years of activism, campaigning and hard work to make sure the voices of victims and survivors are heard.

The march closed with a fantastic pledge from the night’s compere, actor Kirsty Dillon: “Next year we want the march to be even bigger and even louder – we’re aiming for 1000 marchers to fill the Guildhall Square.”

If you’re not sure whether to be one of them, check out this video and make up your mind.

Convinced? Good. See you in 2013!

It’s that time of year again, when hundreds of Portsmouth men, women and children are taking to the streets to end domestic and sexual violence as the city gears up for its 3^rd annual Reclaim the Night march on 23^rd November, which kicks off at 7pm at the Spinnaker Tower.

This year’s march is going to be loud and proud, so get ready to shout!

We’re also asking marchers to wear something white or purple to show your solidarity with victims and survivors.

Local drumming group, Batala, will be leading the march, which will end with a rally in the Guildhall Square featuring local musicians El Morgan and Steph Arburrow.

Reclaim the Night is a symbolic march that brings together women, men and children to enable women to reclaim public space in safety and raise awareness about the high levels of violence against women in the UK and across the world.

Aurora works with victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence every day and we know the challenges they face just to come forward and seek help in the first place. Events like Reclaim the Night show on a local level that victims are not alone and there are people out there who can help.

It’s the one night a year in Portsmouth when women are guaranteed to be able to walk in safety through our streets.

Organisers say this year’s march is even more important due to funding cuts affecting local services.

In February 2011, the Safer Portsmouth Partnership launched a review of domestic abuse, stating it was “as a result of changes to funding regimes and service restructures forced by cuts to public service budgets”. In addition, local services for victims and survivors are reporting significant funding cuts, as well as increased competition for existing funding.

What can we do about this?

Well apart from getting your shout on at the march, Aurora are developing a report for all the services working with victim and survivors in the city. It will outline an alternative approach for Portsmouth to ensure the cuts – and the increased pressure on people in a recession – do not combine to turn the clock back for victims and survivors of violence and abuse, or for women more generally, in terms of combating discrimination and providing opportunity.

It’s never been more important to show our support as a city for victims and survivors of violence.

According to research commissioned by the Safer Portsmouth Partnership, domestic violence is the largest common motivator for violent crimes across Portsmouth, but only a low number of incidents currently result in a court case. In addition, levels of sexual violence in Portsmouth have risen since 2010/11.

Portsmouth has a great track record for supporting victim and survivors. Whilst it’s a very real challenge to the sector to make sure these vital services survive in the current economy, the reality is that we simply can’t allow the last ten years of progress to be reversed.

Our CEO, Shonagh says: “This year it’s even more important that local people take to the streets and Reclaim the Night – we need to shout out our support for victims and survivors and say a loud ‘No’ to perpetrators and the social attitudes and structures that help to create and protect them.”

Are you with us Pompey? We’re coming to take back the streets!

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

Maya Angelou

On Friday 27th April, the Aurora team made our way to the Royal Beach Hotel for our very first AGM.

Each member of the team – from the frontline IDVAs, ISVAs, and admin officer to the management team and Chair of the Board – spoke movingly about their individual experiences of Aurora’s first year.

We were delighted that so many agencies, organisations, groups and individuals came along to the AGM – the function room was filled to capacity and all seats were taken. We were surprised to find that so many people came along, several had to stand!

After the speeches, the team relaxed and mingled with our guests and we were all very pleased with everyone’s positive feedback about the day.

One of our guests told us, “I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to hear the F-word spoken so many times in a row – I think it’s more and more rare to hear it openly spoken these days…”

She was, of course, referring to the word ‘feminist’ – a word that Aurora holds very dear and which is at the centre of our work.

Although everyone seemed to enjoy the speeches, there was no doubt that everyone loved the catering – the key to a successful AGM is definitely to be found in the quality and quantity of the cake…

 

Speeches from the day

SHONAGH DILLON, CHIEF EXEC: “This has been simultaneously the most challenging and the most rewarding year of my career to date. I cannot overstate how privileged I feel to work alongside survivors of abuse; I am humbled by the trust they place in us, and always overwhelmed and inspired by their bravery.”

Read the full text of the Chief Exec’s speech

OPERATIONS MANAGER: “Aurora’s Facebook page recently received over 120 likes in the first 48 hours of going live, and is proving a fantastic way of connecting us with others. It’s not often you can say you spent some of your working day facebooking and tweeting!  We’re certainly having great fun with it at the moment but, most importantly, we hope it makes the Aurora service accessible and helps us to connect with our clients and partner organisations in real time.”

Read the full text of the Operations Manager’s speech

VOLUNTEER CO-ORDINATOR: “What I will take most from supporting survivors at court was not necessarily about the result, but about the survivor having the opportunity to stand up to the perpetrator and say ‘what you did to me was wrong’. Survivors were constantly surprising me, and I believe themselves, with the strength and determination that they had in relation to taking back the control that the perpetrator had taken from them.”

Read the full text of the Volunteer Coordinator AGM speech

MARAC and Probation IDVA: “I believe the major success of the [probation] project which, within its first four months had a 100% take up rate from clients, has been down to the existing relationship and…how the service is offered to clients.”

Read the full text of the MARAC and Probation IDVA’s speech