We’re so proud of how far South Shields-based SURT has come in the last five years
A South Shields charity is celebrating its fifth birthday.
Staff, volunteers and supports of South Tyneside-based SURT (Stopping Unsafe Relationships Together) joined together on Wednesday, May 28, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the charity.
Founded by Leanne Hansen and Claire Amans, the charity aims to help children and young people in the borough who have been affected by all forms of relationship abuse.
SURT supports its service users for the amount of time that is needed until they feel safer and happier, as well as giving them an understanding of what other services are out there to help them.
Leanne and Claire have expressed their pride in how far the charity has come over the last five years and thanked everyone who has helped them along the way.
They said: “It is a very proud moment - when we first had the idea to set up SURT, we didn’t expect that we were going to get to this point and still continue to grow.
“We’re recruiting volunteers and it is an amazing feeling, I think it is lovely to see the support from people who are coming to find out what we’ve done and to celebrate with us.
“South Tyneside is a small borough and lots of people know and offer support to each other so there has been a lot of connections and support for SURT over the years.
“We’ve been able to run as far as we have thanks to sponsors and grant funders and we can’t thank everyone enough for supporting us.
“The reach of support has been massive and we can’t forget the young people who have put their trust in us to help them because without that, we wouldn’t exist today.”
The pair also revealed that they intend to ensure that SURT remains connected to South Tyneside as it continues to grow and expand.
They added: “We want to stay as a grassroots service and remain connected to local people, especially the young people we help.
“With our volunteers onboard, it hopefully means that we’ll be able to expand and offer more but we definitely want to stay true to who we are.
“We’re a specialist service and we support young people and parents who’ve experienced abuse and we want to make sure that we maintain that specialism.
“SURT has become a brand and it is a brand that separates us from other people in terms of the specialist offer that we provide.
“This is something that we want to continue to push going forward.”
SURT volunteers June Crawford and Ashleigh Errington have both supported the charity since it was founded five years ago - they have paid tribute to Leanne and Claire for their hard work over the years.
June said: “When I first started, it was just a little shell but now it has grown into lovely offices and it is brilliant to see more people coming into the group.
“Everyone in the team now has their own little jobs to do and we’re there for each other.
“It is brilliant what Leanne and Claire have done.”
Ashleigh added: “I’ve just started volunteering but I have supported Leanne and Claire from the start as my dad is one of their main sponsors.
“We’ve been with them from the beginning and it is nice to see far they’ve come with what they do.”
John and Sylvia Purcell got involved with volunteering at SURT after one of their young family members was referred to the charity for support.
They commented: “We got chatting with Leanne about what the charity does and then on the back of that, we did a course with them to learn how we could understand things that were going on within our family.
“From that, we’ve become more involved to the point where we started volunteering recently.
“There is a big gap in services that are available for things that SURT offer so it is important to have things like this - it has been a godsend to us.”
Councillor Jay Potts, the Mayor of South Tyneside, thanked Leanne and Claire on behalf of South Tyneside for their work with SURT.
He stated: “On behalf of the Civic Office, we want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to SURT and for your contribution to making South Tyneside a safer place for all.
“SURT’s contribution to the community of South Tyneside has been acknowledged for three consecutive years at our local Love South Tyneside Awards, as well as more regionally by the BBC.
“The SURT brand that they have created and the specialist work they deliver sets them apart from all others and has led to them being a valued and trusted organisation within our borough.”
You can find out more about the services that SURT provides by visiting: https://wearesurt.org/.
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