As you all know I love my Xmas decorations and I know many of you walk or drive by to have a look at them.

This year I would like raise some funds for a charity very close to our hearts, Phoenix women’s Aid Doncaster.

As many of you know this time last year our daughter India was attacked for the final time by her ex. We learned of the appalling abuse when we met the ambulance at the hospital. On the run from the police and withholding the location of Isaiah (her baby) the police jumped into action to locate him. 16 hours later thankfully they found him and returned him to us. It took the police a further week to find her ex. During that week we were threatened numerous times that he would come to our house, firebomb us, smash our home up, smash our cars up…..this was serious enough that the police sat outside our house in the end to protect us u til they had found him. It’s safe to say our lives were ripped apart. India lost her home as it was deemed unsafe for her to go back there, so for 5 months she came back home to us before she was rehomed again, and had to start from scratch.

Being in this situation has given us a first hand experience of how little help there is for domestic abuse victims.

Phoenix women’s aid are one of the few charities who do help. Both men and women. They have numerous refuges, provide help and advice to women to restart their lives and are the only place that offered India face to face trauma counselling. Due to the high demand India is still on the waiting list a year down the line, and the sad reality is her perpetrator will probably be out of prison before she receives it. This highlights just how little help and funding there is available to provide this for domestic abuse victims.

Last Christmas was awful for us all as a family, and we’re very aware that there will be many more victims suffering this coming Christmas, and many more to come,

So we’d like to help.

Please if you call by my home to look at the Christmas decorations would you consider making a donation? Even if it’s 50p or a £1 it will help to make a difference.

The decorations will be ready in the next week or so for you all to view

Please help

Thankyou from the Sykes’s xx