Camden New Journal - by SARA NEWMAN Published: 6 September 2007
Members of the Irish Women’s Group.
Hampstead women get their own centre after 25-year wait
AFTER 25 years of struggling to find suitable premises, the West Hampstead Women’s Centre was finally granted its wish: A women’s-only space “all under one roof”.
Initially set up in a little shop in Hemstal Road with a flooded basement and later granted another shop in Kingsgate Road, the women’s group entered a bidding race with other community groups for the lease of the Old Kilburn Library in Cotleigh Road. It took two years to raise funds for a £270,000 refurbishment.
Attending the opening of the centre, which runs counselling services, sewing and creative writing classes and group outings for vulnerable and marginalised women, Glenda Jackson, MP for Hampstead and Highgate said: “It is a major asset not just for the people who use the service but also to the much wider community. Camden should seriously reconsider its present decision to reduce the money that goes into the centre. “Anything I can do to help, I will.”