Our history
Why was Friends of the Family founded?
Vulnerable young families need support in the early years of being a family. Concerned this wasn’t happening, our two co-founders – Ann Titman, a social worker, and Dorothy Richardson, a magistrate – started the charity in 1993 to provide the right help at the right time. They believed that earlier supportive intervention was key and so developed our Friends of the Family’s Mums and young children project.
1993
Friends of the Family Winchester was founded, providing support to mums and pre-school children
2009
5s to 13s befriending programme was established to support children aged 5 to 13 years
2010
Friends of the Family Winchester became a company limited by guarantee and started up a membership base
2012
Support for dads was established, thanks to funding from Winchester City Councillors
2014
A Big Lottery Helping Communities Grant, providing five years of funding, was awarded to our 5s to 13s befriending programme
2015
Our counselling service was set up to address a growing need to provide additional support to parents already working with us
2019
Our 5s to13s befriending service was awarded three years funding from The Henry Smith Charity, Improving Lives grant
2023
Friends of the Family celebrates 30 years of supporting local families!
Our services are needed
Parenting is a challenging job at best. Most families find family life stressful at some point. Others experience overwhelming difficulties and often feel they have nowhere to turn other than the range of established public sector services. The rise in profile and prevalence of mental health issues particularly demonstrates the importance of the role we play and the services we offer.
The impact we have
As a local, independent charity, we are uniquely positioned to adapt quickly and focus on the most challenged families in the area, providing non-judgmental and tailored support where it is needed. We listen, encourage and guide – with our support the quality of life for local families can improve.