Calderdale Women's Centre is setting up a number of projects to reach women, who may need their services, in the upper and lower Calder valley, with Todmorden, Cornholme, Portsmouth and Walsden as the main target areas in the upper valley.

Gail Nixon, outreach worker for this area, said the launch event from 12.30pm to 2.30pm on Thursday, May 22 will be held in the gym at the college and will be a way of finding out what type of service people want to see in this area and to link up with the services already on offer here.

"There will be a number of stalls with the different services represented, from the job centre to health services. We will also be offering taster sessions of light exercise and dance for anyone who would like to join in," said Gail.

Women of all ages are welcome to attend the event, at which light refreshments will be available and children welcomed.

Gail explained the outreach service will be aimed at supporting women make positive and informed choices; develop skills for getting a job; become more independent; feel less isolated and improve social well-being and psychological health.

"We'd like to network with existing services and be able to signpost people to them. But we would also like to be able to reach the people who may not have accessed those services. We could offer help through home visits, requests for service and training courses for volunteers.

"The person we reach could be a single parent who doesn't have a family support network or a lady in her 80s who hasn't been able to access the services available to her. We could help a person who has issues around agoraphobia, mental health issues, depression or a person who is isolated for whatever reason. We can also be an extra service for anyone who has been the victim of domestic violence. There are many ways in which we can help and support women."

Volunteering is one area in which the outreach work can offer support with roll-on roll-off module-based training available for volunteers at the Acorn Centre.

"We hope to work with volunteers and hopefully they will become part of the team. It's all about boosting confidence, building self-esteem and assertiveness," added Gail.

Karen Arnold, Reaching Out Team manager, said the project has been funded for three years, which started with the planning and set up phase in August last year. Funding of just under £500,000 has been awarded by the Big Lottery Fund for the project, which covers Brighouse, Rastrick, Elland, West Central Halifax, as well as Todmorden.