International Women's Day at Rockwater Hove supports charity RISE

Seafront restaurant and wellness brand Rockwater Hove brought together some of Rockwater Life’s practitioners to host a series of sessions over two days designed to nurture mental and physical wellbeing, supporting International Women's Day (March 8) and raising money for ‘RISE’ women’s refuge charity in Brighton & Hove.

All classes will be streamed on Instagram live, available to catch up on IGTV & Zoom with a donations link to support.

On Sunday, March 7 there was slow flow yoga session with The Wellness Works and at 6.30am this morning there was wake up and workout with Uber Mummies and Rachel Potter Pilates.

The sessions continue tonight at 6pm there is Strength + Animal Flow with Sally Morgan & Amphibious Fit and at 8.30pm: Sound meditation with IO Project.

Luke Davis, founder of Rockwater Hove, said: "We are thrilled to be hosting these charitable events for such an important cause. International Women's Day is particularly poignant this year as it marks the independence regained by many women who have had to contend with home-schooling, whilst balancing their career and roles as mothers. We also wanted to provide an extra helping hand to those in the community that do such important work, but have felt the pressure of the pandemic. RISE offer the community such incredible support, and anything we can do to assist domestic issues during a time where we have been widely confined to our homes is especially poignant.

Nicola Davis, senior fundraising and communications officer at RISE, added: "RISE would like to thank Rockwater Life for choosing to support RISE this International Women’s Day. Following the news that we have lost funding for our refuge and case work services, we need the support of the community more than ever to help us continue with our essential prevention and recovery work – helping people to rebuild their lives after domestic abuse. We are delighted to be benefitting from a series of events which aim to nurture emotional and physical wellbeing, and would encourage people to take time out to focus on some self-care – all for an excellent cause."

RISE charity has operated in Brighton for 26 years, providing essential support to victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence.

Recently it was announced that RISE lost their bid for £5 million funding and as a result can no longer currently provide their women's refuge or case worker support. These services will however be available in Brighton via alternative organisations. RISE are still running essential services such as specialist one-to-one therapy, therapeutic survivor groups, the LGBTQ+ refuge, our work with children and families and our community engagement project. Since the announcement, a petition started by a domestic abuse survivor has raised over 27,000 signatures.