A WELL-attended ladies’ Christmas evening at St Stephen’s Church in?Cinderford raised £400 for Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service (GDASS) on December 3. Guests were pampered by Cinderford based The Powder Puff and enjoyed shopping with 13 local crafters and businesses.

Around 60 ladies attended the event with food and drinks put on by members of the congregation. Musical entertainment was provided by local recorder group Bella Musica. Tessa Bell, of Stitch Happy, who had a stall at the event, said: “Thank you to everyone involved for a fantastic evening. Lovely relaxing atmosphere, fantastic food and a brilliant chance to catch up with friends, old and new. Not forgetting all for a very worth while cause.”

This is the second year the church has organised a Ladies Christmas Evening to support GDASS. Rachel Witham, who organised the evening, said: “We chose GDASS as we wanted to support a local charity and raise awareness about domestic abuse as it is something we all hope will never happen to us but sadly the likelihood is we will all know someone who is affected.”

GDASS is a county-wide service designed to reduce the level of domestic abuse and improve the safety of victims and their families. They operate in all districts offering a variety of support programmes for women and men over 16 years old experiencing domestic abuse.

Cllr Di Martin who works for GDASS and is a member of St Stephen’s Church said, “The evening raised a fantastic amount of money which we hope to use to set-up some local support groups in Cinderford and provide training.”