A CHARITY which opened the UK’s first safe house for women over 45 fleeing domestic abuse has been praised for making a huge difference to their lives.

EVA Women’s Aid, which supports women and their families across Teesside, was honoured as the charity which made the biggest impact at the national Charity Bank Impact awards.

The award comes just four years after EVA lost the local authority contract in Redcar to provide domestic violence support. Since then it has sourced funding from elsewhere and provides more services than ever before.

In June last year the charity, based on Redcar’s High Street, opened the first safe house specifically for victims of both domestic and sexual abuse aged over 45.

It formed part of a unique project to support mature women suffering at the hands of abusers – women who are far less likely to report being ill-treated than younger women.

Richinda Taylor, chief executive officer of EVA, said: “Sadly many women believe that there’s no way out for them but we help them to see there is a future after domestic violence. This award recognises the work that our specialist team does.

“More mature women have sometimes been in abusive relationships for many years and the issues are more embedded. It can take longer to unpick.

“If you are in your 70s you come from an era where you didn’t talk about your feelings. If you married in your 20s, 30s or 40s you were encouraged to stay in the marriage, regardless of how awful it was, because it was seen as your duty to do so. “Many of these women have suffered years of sexual, financial and psychological abuse. Some of them say “he has never hit me”, but that doesn’t matter if you have not been allowed to see your friends or not allowed to spend any money – it is still abuse, and they don’t always see that at first.

Patrick Crawford of Charity Bank said: “EVA Women’s Aid provides a lifeline to women who have suffered domestic or sexual abuse and violence.”