Willow, The North Hull Women’s Centre is celebrating having received £22,000 towards salaries for its training and crèche facilities. The grant has been made by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales through its Community Priority Programme.
Founded in 1994, the Centre has since provided support, advice and learning to over 400 women per year in the area enabling them to develop new life and employment skills. Earlier this year the Centre received four year funding from the Big Lottery Fund. The new grant from the Lloyds TSB Foundation will enable the Centre to build on its current work by identifying the training and learning needs of the women it supports and offer a free crèche.
Sylvia Kilvington, joint manager with Jacquie Newman commented, “The funding will make a great difference to our crèche allowing us to continue to offer a free service. Michelle Harney, the crèche manager and her team have made the crèche the success it is today. We received a glowing Ofsted report at our last inspection. The crèche enables many women to come in and attend confidence building workshops, move into further education and gain skills towards employment preparing them for when their children start attending school.
Sylvia continued, “Many women who come through our doors are non-traditional earners, it is inspirational to witness their journeys as they learn new skills and develop their confidence whilst knowing their children are in a safe environment. It is the needs that they individually identify that help form the basis for our future workshops and training programmes.”
Steve Robinson from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales said, “The Centre is clearly thriving and generating great results in an area where positive opportunities have been rare. Sylvia and Jackie, who run the Centre, pride themselves on the crèche and training programme. We’re delighted to help it continue.”
The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales supports charities that help disadvantaged people to play a fuller role in the community. Local or regional charities with an income of £1million or less in Yorkshire can find out more about the funding criteria and grant programmes at www.lloydstsbfoundations.org.uk.
