Worcester News Column - WMRSASC CEO, Jocelyn Anderson
Worcester’s annual Reclaim the Night march is returning. This powerful event invites everyone to raise their voices, challenge gender-based violence, and reclaim public spaces after dark. Read more about this year’s march, how to join, and why this movement matters now more than ever.
NOVEMBER 25 marks the start of the 16 Days of Action Against Gender Based Violence, including the annual Reclaim the Night March on Thursday, November 27 in Worcester.
The first march took place in 1977 in Leeds, protesting the curfew imposed on women during the Yorkshire Ripper investigation.
Ever since, it has stood against male violence towards women and girls.
Forty-eight years later, one in four women will be raped and one in six children will be sexually abused.
By September 2025, at least 51 UK women and girls, aged 13-plus, had been killed in cases where a man or men were primary suspects — a figure sure to rise.
This month also marks three years since the Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published its 20 recommendations, none of which have been implemented.
It is estimated that a further 1.5 million children have been abused in this time.
The Act on IICSA campaign reminds us that survivors are 15 per cent more likely to die by suicide.
Each new headline of rape, abuse or murder can make our efforts to challenge, campaign and raise awareness feel hopeless.
Despite lifesaving and life-changing work, services for survivors remain underfunded.
We fear that daughters and granddaughters will be no safer than the women that have gone before them.
It is wearing, draining — and dark.
But when it is dark look for the stars.
The government recently announced two long-awaited changes — removing the family court presumption of contact with both parents and automatically restricting parental rights for rapists and serious sex offenders.
Two common sense changes that have been long campaigned for and hoped for. Hope is, I think, the brightest star.
At WMRSASC we offer hope to those who have been abused to show that trauma and abuse need not define them, that things can change, that life is still worth living.
To this end, this Christmas we invite you to join our Purple Leaf Project and Tree of Hope at Worcester Cathedral, celebrating hope, courage and compassion.
Buy a leaf, share your message of hope and help us support children and families through our Purple Pathways programme.
From now until the end of January you can find out more and donate here.
All donations received from December 2 to 9 via our Big Give Campaign page will be doubled!
We need your support to keep hope and change alive.
Join the Reclaim the Night March and show your solidarity.
Everyone has a part to play in ending violence against women and girls and everyone is welcome.
It’s on November 27, gathering at 6pm for a 6.30pm start prompt.
Meet at Boston Tea Party, Worcester (WR1 3NF).
March to The Granary, Hope Church (WR1 2DA).
The Granary will be open for those wishing to gather but not march.
To find out more about our work or to support survivors by making a donation, visit: www.wmrsasc.org.uk
To read the full Worcester News article click here.