August 22, 2012 2.11 pm This story is over 139 months old

Former Mayor awards cheques to local charities

Charity cheques: The previous Mayor of Lincoln awarded charities of her choice £6,500 to help fund their activities.
L-R: Pam Walker, Steve Allnutt, Cllr Brothwell, Cllr Renshaw, Julie Renshaw, Jeff Boyall

Former City of Lincoln Mayor, Councillor Kathleen Brothwell, awarded over £6,500 to two local charities on Wednesday.

At a special presentation ceremony in The Guildhall, she presented cheques to Lincoln Integrated Domestic Abuse Services (LIDAS) and Home-Start. She was joined by former Sheriff Councillor Robin Renshaw, former Sheriff’s Lady Judith Renshaw and former Mayor’s Consort Jeff Boyall.

LIDAS was the councillor’s chosen organisation and received £5,543.82. It helps families who are affected by domestic abuse, by providing an outreach service to men, women and children.

They hold group work sessions and have developed free iPhone and Android apps to help people who think they may be an abuser.

Manager of LIDAS, Julie Rimington (picture below, centre), said: “A lot of fundraising focuses on victims but potential abusers need advice too, so we try to provide help both ends of the spectrum.”

Councillor Brothwell also donated £1,000 to Home-Start. The charity focuses on giving support to families who are struggling with a range of difficulties.

Some of its volunteers help parents who find it hard to look after disabled children, feel isolated or simply need assistance around the home.

Home-Start chair, Steve Allnutt and vice chair, Pam Walker, were on hand to accept the cheque. Allnutt said: “We have amazing volunteers who go into people’s home and help them out. We also put on summer and christmas events for children.”

The former Mayor said: “The amount of money that was raised for LIDAS and Homestart last year is absolutely fantastic and I can’t thank the people who donated enough. This huge amount of money will make a different to hundreds of people’s lives, which is what I set out to achieve by choosing the charity.”