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ST MARY’S CENTRE, MANCHESTER
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Contact: Charlotte Batra 07932 919573

November 8 2011

Photo/filming opportunity

Date: November 11 2011
Time: 1.00pm
Venue: Meet at the South Gallery of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Oxford Road, Manchester.
Event: 25 Year Anniversary and formal opening of the St Mary’s new accommodation with the launch of a new art project funded by the Soroptomists International of Manchester.

St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) celebrates its 25 year anniversary and relocation to new accommodation

The St Mary’s SARC will be celebrating its 25 year Anniversary with its move to newly refurbished and expanded accommodation within the St Mary’s Hospital on Friday November 11th at 1.00pm.

St Mary’s SARC provides a comprehensive service to victims of rape and sexual abuse living in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire area. Over the past year, more than 1,000 people have used the service with just under half of these being children. The Centre’s new accommodation now boasts three examination suites, each tailored to meet the needs of adults and children.

Helping to mark the Centre’s new accommodation and 25th Anniversary will be the installation of an innovative art project designed specifically for young children using the Centre. The ‘Luna’ will comprise a portable interactive projection onto the ceiling or wall of the Children’s forensic examination suite. The child client will have a stress ball to hold and manipulate which will control the movement of shapes, colours and activity of the light projection depending on how the ball is squeezed and moved.

The artist behind the project is Ben Bradley, lecturer in Graphic Design and Creative Director of design collective 29North (www.29north.co.uk). Ben has also recently completed an MA in Design & Art Direction at Manchester Metropolitan University. He explained more about the ‘Luna’: “The Luna has been a very interesting and challenging project to work on and develop. The light installation uses bubble images to give a calming and relaxing experience. Each bubble has its own life and set of rules relating to other bubbles around it and its positioning. These rules influence its behaviour and add unpredictability to the work while still remaining in a clearly defined system to maintain some control of the look and feel. The work also employs elements of randomisation to give an even more unique experience. All this combined makes for a generative visual in the sense that it is being generated by the user. It uses a system and a set of rules but the outcome is slightly different each time.

“When describing what generative art is I usually quote Phillip Galanter who states “Generative is where you lose control of a machine that does exactly what you say” (Galanter. P, 2003)”

The installation cost £8,000 and was funded entirely by Soroptimist International of Manchester. Soroptimist International is a worldwide organisation for women in management and the professions, who work through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. The Manchester club was chartered in 1926 and celebrated 80 years of service in the city by fundraising for the St Mary’s Centre’s Children’s Service. Through their hard work and dedication they raised £12,000 that allowed the art project to come to life and helped in creating a suitable environment for children and adolescents.

The President of Soroptimist International of Manchester, Val Moss, commented: “The club has supported St Mary’s SARC for many years by donating toiletries, and the members were keen to do more when the service for child victims was inaugurated. The Luna art project uses modern technology to alleviate distress for the children and we are thrilled to be associated with it. ”

Dr Cath White, Clinical Director for the St Mary’s Centre, said: “This installation provides a gentle but effective distraction and will encourage children to focus on taking control of the colours and shapes they see, thereby reinforcing our ethos of giving back control so often taken away when they are subjected to rape and sexual assault.”

Established in 1986, The St Mary’s Centre was the first of its kind in the UK and is nationally acclaimed as a beacon of good practice and internationally recognized as a centre of excellence leading in the field of sexual assault forensic medicine and range of support services to meet the individual needs of its clients.

In 2006, the Centre opened a dedicated children’s service and is now in the unique position of being able to provide child focused care and support to victims and families.

Bernie Ryan, Centre Manager, said: “We are proud of our achievements over the last 25 years and will continue to ensure that people who have experienced rape and sexual assault receive the best quality and standards of care that are possible. Our new accommodation will help us to achieve this goal and meet the needs of clients in Greater Manchester and Cheshire.”

Ends

Media Contact: Charlotte Batra, Batra Communications Ltd, 07932 919573

Notes to Editors

Artist Ben Bradley was commissioned by Lime – an award winning arts in healthcare charity. www.limeart.org.

St Mary’s Centre was the UK’s first sexual assault referral centre. It was established in 1986 to provide a comprehensive and co-ordinated forensic, medical, counselling and aftercare service to adults in Greater Manchester who have experienced rape or sexual assault (whether recently or in the past). The service has recently expanded to meet the needs of clients in Cheshire.

November 1 2011

St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) response to Ending Gang and Youth Violence – A Cross-Government Report

St Mary’s Centre Manager and Chair of the National SARC Advisory Board, Bernie Ryan, welcomed the Government announcement of £1.2 m of additional funding over the next 3 years to improve services for young people under 18 suffering sexual violence in urban areas.

Commenting on the announcement, Bernie Ryan, said: “The additional £400,000 per year for the next 3 years will go some way to address the particular needs of children and young people who have experienced rape and sexual assault, including those involved with gangs.

“There are currently a small number of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) and other specialist sexual violence services which meet the specific needs of children and young people when they have suffered rape or sexual assault/abuse. At St Mary’s SARC we have a dedicated Children’s Service.

“We recognise that young children have very different needs from adolescents. This additional funding will go some way in gaining a greater perspective on the problem and assist in the implementation of services specifically designed to meet the needs of children and young people.”

Earlier this month, the Children’s Commissioner announced a two year inquiry into the extent of sexual exploitation in gangs and claimed that as many as 10,000 children could be sexually exploited in this way.

Bernie Ryan continued: “The Centre currently provides a service to more than a 1,000 men, women and children and just under a half of those are under 18.

“We welcome the opportunity to work together with government to address the issues to protect our children and young people, provide child specific services and engage in a sexual violence education and prevention programme

ends.
Media Contact: Charlotte Batra, Public Relations, 07932 919573

Notes to Editors

St Mary’s Centre is the UK’s first sexual assault referral centre and is a unique collaborative venture between Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust, Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Police Authority. Established in 1986 to provide a comprehensive and co-ordinated forensic, counselling and aftercare service to adults in Greater Manchester who have experienced rape or sexual assault (whether recently or in the past).

February 15 2011

Fear, Fantasy and Facts – sex crimes and young children

Improving services to child victims of rape and sexual assault is the focus of the St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre’s Annual Conference which will take place on February 23rd and 24th 2011 at Manchester Town Hall.

At the conference, the St Mary’s Centre will reveal figures collated from Children’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre which was established 5 year’s ago and now sees approximately 400 children each year.

The two-day conference will be formally opened by the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Peter Fahy.
Speakers will include:

  • Professor Sir George Alberti, former Clinical Advisor to NHS London and Leader of the taskforce that followed the Violence Against Women and Girls consultation
  • Dr David Southall, Honorary Medical Director of Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International
  • Paul Stern, Senior Deputy Prosecution Attorney from Snohomish County, Washington
  • Professor David Wells, Head of Clinical Forensic Medicine, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Australia.

This year’s conference will specifically look at how young child victims are treated through the legal process and providing valuable insight will be:

  • Chief Crown Prosecutor for Greater Manchester, Robert Marshall
  • HH Judge Peter Rook QC of the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey
  • HH Judge Maureen Roddy, Crown Court Judge
  • HH Judge Andrew Gilbart QC, Honorary Recorder of Manchester.

As well as plenary sessions, workshops and masterclasses, this year’s Conference will comprise a debate on the subject of protecting young children involving panelists, Sharon Shoesmith, former Children’s Services Director at Haringey Council, Mark Lee, NW Regional Director at Barnardo’s and Jim Gamble, former CEO at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency (CEOP).

Dr Catherine White, Clinical Director at the St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre said: “Our annual conference has become a key event for those delivering sexual assault services and attracts both eminent speakers and delegates from a wide range of professions.

“Over the two days we hope to get underneath some of the myths and pre-conceptions about child sexual abuse and really understand the challenges faced by professionals.

“We hope to stimulate debate, share good practice and ensure that our informal and practical workshop and masterclass sessions lead to even higher quality services for young children who have been raped or sexually assaulted.”

Ends

Media Contact: Charlotte Batra, Public Relations, 07932 919573

Notes to Editors

St Mary’s Centre is the UK’s first sexual assault referral centre and is a unique collaborative venture between Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust, Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Police Authority. Established in 1986 to provide a comprehensive and co-ordinated forensic, counselling and aftercare service to adults in Greater Manchester who have experienced rape or sexual assault (whether recently or in the past).