The History of My Sisters’ House

2013 - 2014

The Beginning

Julie Budge has a wealth of experience in women’s issues. She is a former CEO for regional CAB, founder and manager of a victim support group, and roles with community police. With amazing fundraising skills she was working at Voluntary Action Arun and Chichester.

In 2013, Annabell Alexander and Birdy Davenport both went to see Julie to tap her knowledge of fundraising as they both wanted to set up a Women’s Centre. Having been offered a wealth of information and advice, both decided to put the project on hold for a while.

In May 2014, Julie gathered a group of local women together around her kitchen table, including her sister, Joanne Webb. They produced the vision for a Women’s Centre.

In August 2014, the CIC was formed. Within a few months, The Roddick Foundation gave us the seed funding - and the rest is history!

june 2015

Our First Home

We took on a very small ‘campaign’ office to increase our profile and develop the interest of the community. This rapidly grew into a drop in centre. We took on our first member of staff. We had 12 volunteers by the end of 2015.

2016

Moving On

We moved to 108c London Road- a shop front premises. We began offering more services as we achieved more grants. In October, Julie Budge received a Community Hero Award from Spirit FM and the Chichester Observer Community Person of the Year.

2017

From Strength to Strength

By the end of 2017 we had 4 part-time staff, 32 volunteers and 4 freelancers. That year we piloted our new counselling service and begun running more peer groups after having received funds from Bognor Regis Town Council and Tesco Bags for Life.

We later received large grants from the ROSA Fund, NHS Coastal Commissioning Group and the Building Opportunities Fund. All of which expanded our services to include the DART Project, expand our domestic abuse provision and Back to Work Project. We raised £88,710 through the year.

In this year, we also launched our Stronger Futures Peer Support Group for the first time.

2018

An Abrupt Eviction

Early in 2018, we moved into the Clockwalk premises after being gifted it on a ‘Tenancy at Will’ – sadly this ended abruptly 3 months later through no fault of MSH. However, we quickly showed resilience and team spirit and secured various short-term spaces  - our services housed in four different venues across Bognor Regis.

Our fortunes were turned around when we secured our first commissioned contract with Sussex Police and Crime Commissioners for our domestic abuse services. This £80,000 grant was the highest amount given in the tranche. Our valuable service was recognised by the police.

During this year 292 women accessed our services - a huge milestone and indicator of need.

first half of 2019

The Life-Changing Grant

The year began with many challenges as the demand was outgrowing our spaces. In February of 2019, Julie was invited to collect a cheque from The Body Shop, funds raised by the employees. With sincere emotional thanks she collected the £13,500 unrestricted donation, which was partially used for funding our support worker with benefit appeal experience. In just six months, she raised £90,000 in back payments and debt reclaims.

Later in February, we received the news that we were successful with our Big Lottery Community Fund business grant. Within four weeks, we announced this news on International Women’s Day. By late March, we received confirmation that 108b London Road (next door) was available - and on the 12th of June we signed the lease!

second half of 2019

Dame Julie Walters DBE

In August 2019, we were delighted when Dame Julie Walters DBE opened our expanded centre and unveiled a commemorative plaque, acknowledging 5 years of service to the community.

On the 8th November 2019, we were excited to announce that the patron of My Sisters’ House was Julie Walters herself! Find out more here.

March 2020

Covid-19 Hit Hard

We had to close our doors for the first time. We purchased laptops and mobile phones so that all staff could work from home. We launched telephone support lines and Live Chat provision via our website within two weeks of lockdown.

May 2020

An Appearance on Lorraine

We were so proud to have been on Good Morning Britain live with Lorraine, our Founder Julie Budge and our amazing Patron Dame Julie Walters. Julie had the opportunity to talk about how women can access help whilst suffering domestic abuse in lockdown.

November 2020

Women of the Year 2020

Our CEO & Founder Julie Budge became the recipient of the Women of the Year 2020 - Woman in the Community Award. After Julie received her award, My Sisters’ House were delighted to be featured on ITV Meridian, in a short video explaining the impact of My Sisters’ House.

DECEMBER 2020

Launch of the MSH Book

Our founder, Julie Budge, wrote and published a book all about My Sisters’ House. It is a story of women supporting women, of the impact of pain, loss, abuse, and poverty suffered by women but also of inspiration, strength, resilience, drive, passion and determination shown by the same women. This was promoted during Julie’s Women of the Year Award feature and is being sold through our website and Amazon.

December 2020

M&S Christmas Ad Campaign

We were delighted to announce that our much-loved patron Dame Julie Walters DBE has chosen My Sisters’ House to benefit from a donation of £100,000 as part of the Marks & Spencer Food Christmas advertising campaign.

2021

We Continue to Provide Support

We have made some radical changes to the centre. Having doubled our staff numbers in the last 18 months, and anticipating that when we open the drop-in  in May we will have more women coming in. Utilising £10K of our own funds, with £10K of donated time we have opened what was two smaller offices into a large open plan one with new smaller desks. We have converted 300 sq ft of space into 3 more client interview rooms and a staff room area, as well as a large store cupboard for the toiletries/supplies. All so that we can continue supporting the women who come through our doors in the best possible way.