The Daisy Programme and Thetford Town Ladies Football Club have announced they will be working together to raise awareness of domestic abuse, and the support available to those affected by it, in Breckland.
The Daisy Programme will run awareness sessions at the football club, and invite the players to become domestic abuse awareness ambassadors. The charity’s logo will also be displayed on part of Thetford Town Ladies’ kit, as a way of making fans more aware of the work they do.
The arrangement between the club and the charity was made by Breckland Council, which works with The Daisy Programme. Cllr Stuart Terry, who represents Thetford Boudicca ward on Breckland Council, is also an assistant coach at Thetford Town Ladies. He brought the idea of working with the charity to officers at the council, and the link was made with The Daisy Programme.
Breckland Council supports The Daisy Programme to provide a range of services across the district to anyone affected by domestic abuse as part of its Inspiring Communities programme: a £1m investment to enhance the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our residents
The Daisy Programme plans to build on this initial work with Thetford Town Ladies FC to form similar links with other community organisations to raise awareness of domestic abuse throughout the district, with help from Breckland Council.
The captain of Thetford Town Ladies, Sausha Levy-Twomey, has already committed to becoming a domestic abuse awareness ambassador, and said: “It is an absolute privilege to have the Daisy Programme partnering up with Thetford Town Ladies. I think it is so important for teams like ours to start getting involved with charities such as the Daisy Programme, it will hopefully have a domino effect and encourage other teams to get involved with such crucial programmes. I think being a Ladies team especially, it shows that we stand in solidarity with these victims. People are very unaware of what constitutes as domestic abuse, people know that physical abuse is wrong, but sometimes the emotional and financial abuse for example are sometimes forgotten. I hope our partnership with the Daisy Programme will help educate people.”
Cllr Stuart Terry added: “Almost one in three women aged between 16-59 will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime, and more worryingly around 3 women a week commit suicide as a result of domestic abuse. The Daisy Programme is an important charity that’s been working in Norfolk specifically since 2015 and I’m proud that Breckland Council supports that work. I’d like to thank the team from Breckland for helping to bring this partnership together.”
Leigh Doran, Programme Director of the Daisy Programme, said: “I am inspired by the growing community support in tackling the ongoing concerns that domestic abuse raises across Breckland. Domestic abuse is not going away and the more we can raise awareness, educate about the different types of abuse and repeat the message that domestic abuse is not acceptable the better. The initiative between Breckland Council, Daisy Programme and Thetford Town Ladies couldn’t be a more suitable platform to continue our work.”
Cllr Alison Webb, Breckland Council’s Executive Member for Housing, Health and Communities, said: “We’re so pleased to have been able to support this link between a community organisation who want to raise awareness of domestic abuse and a charity which has the expertise to help them do so. Our Inspiring Communities programme is an investment of £1million over three years, and one of its priorities is helping anyone who has been affected by domestic abuse. We’re working with The Daisy Programme on a number of projects to raise awareness of this important issue and I’d like to thank Thetford Town Ladies FC for getting involved. I hope it inspires other clubs and groups to get involved too!”
More information about Breckland Council’s work with The Daisy Programme and the Inspiring Communities can be found on the council’s website at breckland.gov.uk/communities/
