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Authority record
Glasgow Women's Aid
GL · Corporate body · 1973 -

Glasgow Women's Aid (GWA), established in 1973, was the second Women's Aid group in Scotland. Routed in second wave feminist ideologies, the group formed to offer support to women with experiences of domestic abuse. As the organisation grew, providing care for children and young people also became a central focus. Initially, GWA was driven by volunteers and donations, but now they receive funding through Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government. Currently, the group has six refuges throughout Glasgow, which provide space for 37 families.

Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid
HG · Corporate body · 1981 -

Gryffe Women's Aid was established in 1981, and was the first Asian, Black and Minority Ethnic Women's Aid group in Scotland. The group's first refuge was opened in a cottage at Quarriers Village by the river Gryffe in Kilmacolm in the same year and ran at the same location until 1997.

The group began with a group of 15 volunteers in Inverclyde, introducing one full-time and two-part time workers in 1982. By 1990, 12 workers were employed at Hemat Gryffe, however, after Urban Aid funding ended, the project ran without funds for two years. The drop-in centre at Hope Street was closed and the group lacked a home base, but continued to provide women with support and services.

In 1994/5, a small grant from Strathclyde Council, supplemented by money from J. Paul Getty, allowed a drop-in centre to be opened on Willow Street. It was at this time that Hemat, meaning "courage" was added to the group's name. The refuge at Quarriers Village was closed and spaces were offered in flats throughout Glasgow. In 1998, a new purpose built refuge space was opened with room for 12 families and single women. Further funding allowed other refuges to be opened in the West End of Glasgow in the following few years, including a refuge for elderly Asian, Black and Minority Ethnic women, supported by Scottish Homes and Southside Housing Association.

The group continues to provide refuge, support, services, and outreach to women and children today.

Monklands Women's Aid
MN · Corporate body · 1979 -

Airdrie Women's Aid was established in 1979 after a need for safe places for women who had experienced domestic abuse was identified by social workers. A public meeting was held in June 1979 where women with experience of abuse and violence, along with members from local groups including Citizens Advice Bureau, Community Councils, Inner Wheel, Ladies Circle, local churches, and other voluntary organisations, discussed setting up a local women's aid group. A steering group was formed from this meeting and the group began undertaking training as well as providing educational programming throughout the community. The group opened their first refuge in 1981.

In October 1983, Airdrie Women's Aid was granted office space and they opened the Advice and Information Service in The Resource Centre, Anderson Street, Airdrie. A second office was opened in Coatbridge in 1990 but the group had trouble finding a suitable location for a second refuge until they met with Vera Weisfeld, who owned the retail chain, What Every Woman Wants. She purchased a house for Airdrie Women's Aid in December 1991, which then opened on 5th February 1992.

Culdion Housing Association
CH · Corporate body · 1979-

Culdion Housing Association was established by Scottish Women's Aid in 1979 to provide housing for women who had been the victims of domestic abuse. The aim was to offer accommodation which gave more independence and privacy than Women's Aid refuges, but still offered the support and security of communal living.

GB 1534 CM1 · Person · 1899 - ? (fl 1921-1947)

Catherine Charlotte Robinson Morrison was born on the 16th of December 1899. In 1918 she joined the Scarborough Union - a workhouse - where she worked as a Probationer Nurse until 1920, then as an Assistant Nurse until 1921. She then underwent training to become a Nurse at Stepping Hill Poor Law Hospital near Stockport, which she completed in 1925. During this period she took courses in Elementary Anatomy, Physiology, and Medical and Surgical nursing. She then undertook a further year of training at the Moorfield Eye Hospital in Bedford. Having qualified, she worked at the 5th(1st) General Scottish Hospital at Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire. It was from here that she was recruited by the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), and on the 25th June 1940 left on the HMS Aquitonia for Egypt. She then worked at the 15th Scottish General Hospital in Cairo for the majority of the war, before working in India. During this time she visit numerous places, including Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka, capturing the places she visited in photographs. She later returned to Scotland, received her Ophthalmic Nursing Diploma from the Ophthalmic Nursing Board in 1952, and by the later 1960s was living in the village of Meigle.

EA · Corporate body

Kilmarnock & Louden Women's Aid and Cumnock & Doon Women's Aid merged together to form East Ayrshire Women's Aid.