ABSTRACT
Greystone Women’s Centre was located in an inner city area. In the 1970s the area had been the focus of a Community Development Project, one of a number of projects established under a Home Office initiative as part of the Urban Programme. As a consequence a number of community projects had been set up and the area had under-gone extensive redevelopment, including the building of highrise blocks and the purpose-built Simpson School and Community College which was designed to provide a focus for local activities. Ann took up an appointment as a community worker at Simpson. After a few months of ‘hanging around trying to discover what I was intended to do’ she settled on the idea of a ‘Women’s Information Centre’. The early publicity material made clear the intentions of the project and identified gaps in existing provision which the Centre could fill:
it became apparent that there was a need to provide additional support to the women and mothers in the area of Simpson School. The idea of setting up a room or Centre came from the Mums’ group which meets in Simpson and was responded to by the community workers and teachers concerned. Simpson is involved in a Mothers’ group, Mums’ and toddlers’ group, an Asian girls’ group, teaching English as a foreign language and many other community activities. It was felt, however, that a wider need had not been catered for, a fact which had been highlighted in the past when crisis situations emphasised the need for a place or a means to give more time and advice to women involved in these problems, whether it be relationship, health
or financial worries. It was clearly understood that such a place had to be outside the home and outside the official atmosphere of the school or other professional services. From this the idea of setting up a Women’s Information Centre was engendered.
