Thank you to everyone who made this year’s Reclaim the Night another fantastic event.  Around 30 people took part, starting with the fabulous Organic Rhythm drumming workshop.  We then headed outside for our annual march through the high street.  We headed back to the town hall for a delicious supper and then on to the auction hosted by our patron Tracey West.

A huge thank you to everyone who donated prizes – including books from Waterstones, handmade cards and beaded jewellery, hampers from Unison, toiletries from Lush, Abbotsbury Children’s Farm, Bournemouth Aquarium, Pecorama, Athelhampton House and Vivi Lounge to name just a few. A special thank you to the West Dorset Women’ Refuge Welfare Committee who donated prizes they’d collected for an event that they’d had to cancel.

We raised a fantastic £702 pounds from the auction and tombola.  The funding raised has been spilt between the West Dorset Women’s Refuge and the Sexual Assault Referral Unit (SARC) in Bournemouth.

This year’s Reclaim the Night Charity auction raised a fantastic £1,181 for the West Dorset women’s refuge!

It was a brilliant evening which included some drumming and a short march through town as well as a delicious supper followed by an auction where loads of great prizes had been donated.

The event was held to highlight issues of violence against women and to raise cash to help pay for Christmas in the refuge – including giving the children living there some money to buy a present for their mum and pay for them to go to the panto.

Lyme Regis author Tracey West has been a devoted Patron of WAND for five years and explains, “I am so proud to be a part of this incredible, vital resource for our community. The West Dorset Women’s Refuge and its sister organisation, the Women’s Action Network Dorset, work tirelessly to help countless women and children who are suffering at the hands of domestic violence perpetrators. As long as the crucial funding of this service continues, there will always be a safe haven for those who need it. The Reclaim the Night walk and auction is one of my favourite ways of raising money and awareness of the refuge. Thank you to every one who kindly donated prizes for the auction, there really was something for everyone and it helped us raised a record amount of money this year, which will make more of a positive difference than you’ll ever know.”

We would like to give a huge thank all those who helped by donating a prize or some money including their own members, Magna Housing, Jackie Yeoman, Audrey Burch, The HorseCourse, and local shops and businesses – SGM Hair, Tesco, Poundbury Garden Centre, Cook, Service Master, Waitrose, Walnut Grove, Gould’s, Alice’s Teddy Bear Shop, Vivo Lounge, Waterstones, Ford Farm, the Melbury Gallery, Serenity, Cakes by Cherie, The Horse with the Red Umbrella, Martildo, Lush, Neolimn Photography, Lush and all the museums in Dorchester!

In addition to the money raised, ethically minded local company Lush provided some gorgeous goody boxes for the refuge to give to the mums and their children.