Our history

Stockport Without Abuse, (formerly Stockport Women's Aid) has been around for over thirty years. In the sixties and seventies there was a huge drive by the women’s liberation movement to recognise and combat the issue of domestic violence and abuse, which was largely ignored by the police and courts, and accepted by society with the attitude ‘ it’s only a domestic’.

Heaton Moor Women’s Group came out of the women’s lib movement, and tried to find out what service provision was available in Stockport to help women and protect them from violence.

The Women’s Group formalized itself into Stockport Women’s Aid, using the examples of refuges already set up in the Manchester area. The council rented SWA a house to use, which was our first refuge.

At the time SWA had no funding at all, something that has fortunately changed - however, we are still a charity, and still rely on grants and goodwill to put together a service that has to cope with far more demand that it can meet.

In 1970’s a building on the current site was offered by the council, and eventually, in partnership with Contour Homes (then Collingwood Housing) and with much funding and effort, a purpose built refuge space was created, that was far more suited to a secure and safe environment.

The Refuge project was able to grow from providing emergency accommodation to what it is now, where we can go out into the community, offer services to children, help our ex residents, and contribute to the growing change in attitude making domestic abuse and violence what it is, unacceptable, unwanted, and something no-one has to put up with. It is no longer a case of ‘it’s only a domestic’.