Women’s Aid Leicestershire Limited was established in 1974 when we opened the first refuge in Leicester to support women and children fleeing domestic abuse. Since then we have continued to provide vital assistance to all victims of domestic abuse. Our work continues to be as important now as it was when we first began.

We run safe, temporary refuges in Leicester and Leicestershire, plus a number of dispersed refuge properties across Leicestershire and Rutland. Alongside these, we offer specialist support to survivors who are Black or from Ethnic Minority groups, and have a service dedicated to supporting male victims of domestic abuse.

Women's Aid Leicestershire Limited works closely with three other local, specialist providers (FreeVA, Living Without Abuse (LWA) and Panahghar) to provide a simplified journey to accessing support for domestic abuse.

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Zabin Chauhan is a lawyer and qualified 15 years ago. She is a Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service. Prior to joining the CPS, she worked as a Family Lawyer representing many vulnerable women and men who were victims of domestic abuse.

She is committed to voluntary work and is keen to support and assist WALL at a strategic level so that WALL can continue supporting vulnerable individuals. Zabin has previously volunteered for other charities, such as Reunite, Leicestershire Law Centre and Welfare Rights Advice Service.

Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees

Alison Lockley first qualified as a Youth Worker in the 1980s. For six years she worked in a Leicester project delivering a curriculum of social and political education to unemployed young adults, with an emphasis on work with young women. From here she moved to London and worked in a number of social housing organisations providing accommodation for homeless people with additional support needs, including experience of sexual or domestic abuse.

Alison then worked as Operations Manager in a large housing association in Manchester, overseeing a range of supported housing projects, including a 23 bed project for women with young children. She went on to set up and manage a project for teenage parents, developing a range of support mechanisms and funding schemes to enable young mothers to return to education. Alison then returned to education herself and undertook comparative research into models of welfare to work initiatives aimed at single mothers; and was employed as an associate lecturer on Manchester Metropolitan University’s Early Years Education degree course. Returning to London, she worked as an Investigator for the Health Service Ombudsman, investigating complex complaints about NHS bodies. Alison joined WALL‘s Board of Trustees in 2018.

Head of the Fundraising Sub-Committee

Marea Roberts has had a varied career starting out as a beautician. She joined her family fabric business in Leicester and Coventry and was involved for over twenty years.  Marea was active politically holding several positions in the Labour Party including General Election agent and became a district councillor in 1996.  She was a Trustee of Leicester Children’s Holidays for over 22 years organising many fundraising events.  Marea worked for National Charity ‘Marie Curie’ as Area Fundraising Manager for much of central England for thirteen years before retiring in 2012.

Members of the Board

Mary Tyler has been a trustee for over 15 years, starting this role when she worked as a Principal Lecturer at De Montfort University. Previously she worked in many roles with young people and in the community, including adventure playground worker, social worker, group worker and youth & community worker in London and East Anglia. 

Mary has always been committed to single gender work with young women as an opportunity for confidence building. Her work at De Montfort University involved teaching informal education, social policy and management to youth & community work students at undergraduate and post-graduate level, tutoring on management programmes for children and young people's services leaders in the East Midlands, and undertaking research and evaluation. She has also worked for the National Youth Agency in Leicester and for the Open University.

In the past, Mary has been a foster carer, a local councillor at parish and district level and a school governor. She lives near Hinckley and has a son, a daughter, and three grandsons who live in London. She is currently a volunteer with her local council doing telephone befriending and delivering food bank parcels.