GIVE ME SHELTER

The #GiveMeShelter campaign was conceived on a rainy night as I drove across country roads to visit my mum in Somerset.

I had the radio on for company and a small news item jolted me out of a cosy weekend feeling of contentment.

The remarkable Erin Pizzey, who opened one of the first women's refuges, was lamenting the closure of shelters due to local authority cuts. Women and children were seriously at risk she said.

"How could this be?" I thought. "Domestic violence victims STILL being failed in 2015?"

Outraged by what I'd heard on the radio I began to put a campaign in motion, teaming up with Women’s Aid and visiting shelters where women told me harrowing stories of their abuse.

GiveMeShelter made a huge impact and Chancellor George Osborne allocated £5million in his emergency budget to the cause.