To kick-off our Charity of the Year, we invited the Hollie Gazzard Trust to talk at our launch event. Nick Gazzard, Hollie’s father and CEO of the Trust explained the essential work the trust does in tackling domestic abuse and stalking.
Presenting to two packed-out boardrooms, staff listened to Nick passionately explaining the tragic series of events that led to his young daughter Hollie’s death. We heard some staggering statistics which brought home just how prevalent domestic abuse is today and that it is sadly on the increase.
On a more positive note, we learned all the different ways the Trust is starting to raise awareness of domestic abuse and protect other families. And last but not least, we heard some of the fun ways we can get involved and start fundraising for this extremely needed and worthy cause.
Hollie’s Story
Aged just 20 years old, Hollie Gazzard was murdered at her place of work, in Gloucester on February 18th 2014, by her boyfriend, after months of obsessive behaviour, jealousy, and harassment.
Whilst it must still be painful to talk about how his daughter sadly lost her life, Nick recognises the importance of raising awareness so that other abusive relationships can be recognised and stopped from escalating in the future.
It is through sharing her sad and upsetting story with different audiences; children and young adults, staff and their employers, police officers and community groups that we can start to open-up the difficult conversation about domestic abuse and coercive control.
What we learned
- The police recorded almost 1.5 million (a total of 1,459,663) domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes in England and Wales in the year ending March 2021.
- Of these, 845,734 were recorded as domestic abuse-reated crimes, an increase of 6% from the previous year.
- It is only since 29 December 2015 that coercive or controlling behaviour against an intimate partner or family member became a criminal offence.
- Domestic abuse is on the increase, buy why? With many people working from home or hybrid working, the workplace is no longer an option for those wanting to escape abusive behaviour. Technology such as social media and the internet can help facilitate stalking behaviour.
How can we stop this?
In short, help raise money. To do all the good work that they do, it costs the Hollie Gazzard Trust £160,000/year. Some of the work they do includes providing free talks to our children in schools across the UK, funding the Hollie Guard app so that it’s available free to anyone, paying the 80,000+ text messages that are sent via the app, staffing the Hollie Guard Extra app, and so the list continues.
Join in the fun!
The Hughes Paddison Team are keen to get involved and start fundraising for the Hollie Gazzard Trust, starting with The Cheltenham Running Festival on Sunday 12th June. Please click the link below to donate.
Charity of the Year
Kimberley Whalen-Blake, our Employment Director and one of the Charity’s Trustees had this to say,
"The Hollie Gazzard Trust is a small local charity which not only serves the local community but is having reach worldwide. Domestic abuse, stalking and knife crime are big societal issues that simply have hidden below the surface. They make for uncomfortable conversations and so have been ignored. This allows the issue to continue to breed. More open discussions are need, more education is required and the laws need to be developed so much further than are in place. The Trust is all about creating positive change in this field, and it has some audacious goals for the near future. Giving our commitment and support to the Trust is a privilege. The charity community has been hit hard by the pandemic and more so for the smaller charities. We will do our upmost to support and fundraise for the charity over the coming months and help them on their mission to keep our communities safe."
To donate
If you would like to make a donation to the Hollie Gazzard Trust, Hughes Paddison have a corporate fundraising page. We would really appreciate your support. Thank you.
