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Hollie Gazzard Trust - Charity of the Year Official launch

To kick-off our Charity of the Year, we invited the Hollie Gazzard Trust to talk at our launch event. Nick Gazzard, Hollie’s father and CEO of the Trust explained the essential work the trust does in tackling domestic abuse and stalking.  

Presenting to two packed-out boardrooms, staff listened to Nick passionately explaining the tragic series of events that led to his young daughter Hollie’s death. We heard some staggering statistics which brought home just how prevalent domestic abuse is today and that it is sadly on the increase.

On a more positive note, we learned all the different ways the Trust is starting to raise awareness of domestic abuse and protect other families. And last but not least, we heard some of the fun ways we can get involved and start fundraising for this extremely needed and worthy cause.

Charity of the Year Launch - Hollie Gazzard Trust

Hollie’s Story

Aged just 20 years old, Hollie Gazzard was murdered at her place of work, in Gloucester on February 18th 2014, by her boyfriend, after months of obsessive behaviour, jealousy, and harassment.

Whilst it must still be painful to talk about how his daughter sadly lost her life, Nick recognises the importance of raising awareness so that other abusive relationships can be recognised and stopped from escalating in the future.

It is through sharing her sad and upsetting story with different audiences; children and young adults, staff and their employers, police officers and community groups that we can start to open-up the difficult conversation about domestic abuse and coercive control.

What we learned

  • The police recorded almost 1.5 million (a total of 1,459,663) domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes in England and Wales in the year ending March 2021.
     
  • Of these, 845,734 were recorded as domestic abuse-reated crimes, an increase of 6% from the previous year.
  • It is only since 29 December 2015 that coercive or controlling behaviour against an intimate partner or family member became a criminal offence.
     
  • Domestic abuse is on the increase, buy why? With many people working from home or hybrid working, the workplace is no longer an option for those wanting to escape abusive behaviour. Technology such as social media and the internet can help facilitate stalking behaviour.

How can we stop this?

In short, help raise money. To do all the good work that they do, it costs the Hollie Gazzard Trust £160,000/year. Some of the work they do includes providing free talks to our children in schools across the UK, funding the Hollie Guard app so that it’s available free to anyone, paying the 80,000+ text messages that are sent via the app, staffing the Hollie Guard Extra app, and so the list continues.

Join in the fun!

The Hughes Paddison Team are keen to get involved and start fundraising for the Hollie Gazzard Trust, starting with The Cheltenham Running Festival on Sunday 12th June. Please click the link below to donate.