Stitch4Survivors is a community crafts project to enabling everyone in Chester to demonstrate their support for victims of Domestic Abuse.

We are trying to make a large white ribbon, made of the communities individual pieces to symbolise the fact that we stand with survivors of DA in Chester and globally.

You may have seen us in Chester city centre on White Ribbon Day last year, where we began to join the ribbon together and make what is now a massive white ribbon! This was such a success that we are going to continue to ask people to get involved in this project so that we can carry on showing our support and solidarity with victims of DA. Emma of Chester Women's Aid will host a live Instagram session you can join in to knit / crochet along with her, hear about our work and issues around domestic abuse.

If you can knit or crochet, we ask for a 20cm wide strip of any length. Typically, this would be made from white yarn but due to the current circumstances, any colour is fine! We hope that the mixture of colours on the next section of the ribbon will show the solidarity even during the pandemic.

DA in Lockdown

We will discuss the impact that the Coronavirus has had on DA. CWA give emergency grants to families and children who are fleeing domestic abuse and we have seen an approximate 200% increase in demand since February 2020. Many people are having to live in constant close contact with the perpetrator of abuse, and Metropolitan police said that since March 9th, an average of 100 people a day have been arrested due to DA related offensive and there has been at least 16 suspected domestic abuse killings since the lockdown (The Guardian).

Knitting

If you dont know how to knit, Emma will try to briefly teach you now, if that works over Instagram. She learned from watching YouTube videos and only really does a basic stitch, but any is fine for this project. Again, crocheting is also welcomed!

We woud love to get a variety of different colour pieces from what we have crafted during the lockdown.

Last year, we asked you to drop your finished pieces off at local businesses so that we could collect them and sew them together. This year after restrictions are eased, we will post instructions for posting/dropping off finished lengths.

Donations

As mentioned, the number of emergency grant requests have increased dramatically as a result of the lockdown. We are a volunteer run charity and appreciate any donations to keep our grant programme running. We are no longer able to host fundraising events in the typical way and although we understand that right now is a hard time for everyone, every penny counts and we are grateful for any donations, if you are in the position to give.

Signposting

Something very important that we would like to draw your attention to is the fact that if you are in immediate danger and need to make a silent 999 call, press 55 to inform the call operator that you are in an emergency situation but cannot speak.