Next step for UK roll-out of women's safety group

The founder of a volunteer patrol group whch helps women and girls stay safe at night says a step has been made towards rolling it out nationally.

Night Angels was set up in Stroud, Gloucestershire, by resident Chrissie Lowery in 2023 after her experiences as a domestic abuse survivor, and has since expanded into other parts of the county and Wiltshire.

Lowery went to Westminster to meet Alex Davies-Jones, the government minister responsible for reducing violence against women and girls, on 21 October to talk about an expansion further afield.

She told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "It was incredible, a really good meeting. She's on board to help us to expand."

Lowery started Night Angels to stop others struggling the way she did.

The group has dozens of volunteers across Stroud, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Swindon.

Lowery said they were launching in Bristol by the end of the year.

"I want it UK-wide. I'd love a helpline and a map where women can find us and our safe spaces," she said.

"My endgame is to open a refuge in Gloucester. I started life in a refuge and there isn't one in Gloucester.

"I think there's only one in Gloucestershire because they cut them all. That's what I'd like to finish on."

Speaking of the visit, she said: "It makes it worthwhile. I felt pretty proud, I was there with my trustees and we felt it was going to happen now.

"It was something we planned at the very beginning but didn't know how to get there because we need help with this."

Lowery added the project started with her friends and family "not knowing what we were doing".

In September Lowery won The Great Neighbour Award at the BBC Radio Gloucestershire Make a Difference Awards for setting up the Angel Project.

Last year the government announced a long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade.

It includes ensuring teachers receive training to tackle misogyny in classrooms, a ban on "nudification" tools, and introducing specialist investigators to every police force to oversee rape and sexual offence cases, along with a wider rollout of domestic abuse protection orders after a trial.

The government also gave Rape Crisis England & Wales nearly £9m for survivors of rape and sexual abuse to access a 24/7, confidential helpline.

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