Known locally as ‘the cut’, there are more than 800km of scenic West Midlands canals to choose from for your sponsored walk.
Step up to the challenge and help us raise money to build new, much-needed refuge flats for women and children fleeing domestic abuse and modern slavery.
Plan your own route and distance, and take on the challenge anytime this Summer.
Sign up here by yourself or in a team of up to 5 people. You could be a group of friends, a family or a corporate team.
Compete against your friends and colleagues by checking out our leaderboards. There are prizes for the person and the team of 5 who raise the most money!
Share your pictures with us on social media using the #CutOutAbuse hashtag so that we can celebrate your success.
£200 could buy a fridge/freezer to help equip a refuge flat kitchen
£1000 could buy beds, bed linen and pillows for a family in refuge
£10,000 could pay for hard-wearing flooring for 3 refuge flats
£15,000 could pay for furniture for 10 cosy refuge flat living rooms
Refuge services are at the heart of BCWA, offering secure accommodation to people who have escaped domestic abuse and modern slavery. We provide a safe, supported environment where people can start again and look forward to a life free from violence.
Last year we had to turn away over two-thirds of people who applied for refuge with us. Although we supported them in other ways, securing a safe place for victim-survivors fleeing domestic abuse to live can be a vital first step in someone’s recovery.
Patricia* did everything she could to keep her children in the familiar setting of their own home and shield them from the abuse she was experiencing. Not surprisingly, this took a heavy toll on her physical and mental health. Patricia came to us after going to A & E with chest pains. She was, in fact, experiencing a severe panic attack and anxiety brought on by abuse.
The family moved into our refuge and at first the children were reticent about leaving their flat. However, they soon began to play in the garden and enjoy the fun activities that refuge staff organise regularly. Patricia was impressed by the huge effort that everyone at refuge made to make Christmas special, and her children were reassured when Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy still knew where to find them.
Patricia is now positive about her future. She would like to retrain as a classroom assistant or a domestic abuse advocate and write about her experiences. Her children have a special name for the refuge which she’d like to use as the title of her book: “The Magical Place.”
Visit the Canal Trust website for inspiration.
Cut out Abuse is a canalside sponsored walk fundraiser to raise money for Black Country Women’s Aid.
The challenge is to walk 5, 10 or 15kms along the West Midlands canal network. The date, location and distance of your walk is up to you, but it has to take place before the end of September 2025. You will be part of an online community who choose their own walk routes, times and teams, and who are all supporting Black Country Women’s Aid to build new, much-needed refuges.
You can sign up as an individual, but we would love to see teams of family, friends and colleagues walking together. The maximum number per team is 5 people, but there can be multiple teams from the same organisation.
Anyone can take part as long as you are fit, healthy and are able to complete either a 5,10 or 15km walk.
However, if you are under 18, you must get permission from a parent or legal guardian before registering.
Children under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times when completing their sponsored walk.
Your registration page is also your fundraising page. Once you enter all your details, you are ready to start fundraising immediately. You can share your page by copying the URL for social media posts. Your individual page can also be linked to a team page.
You may want to take the lead as a team leader. You can register your team members all at the same time, or you can invite others to join the team by registering in their own time. Team and individual pages are linked so that your supporters can choose to support individuals (like in a group of friends) or teams (like a group of colleagues participating as a corporate supporter).
Yes, if it is not safe for you to use your name when registering, we strongly recommend using an alias so you can not be identified online but can still enjoy taking part in the challenge. We are very grateful to our community of survivors and those with lived experience of abuse who support and champion BCWA.
What should I include on my fundraising page?
On your individual fundraising page, you can:
· Confirm your target of £200
· Upload a profile picture (people are more likely to donate when there is a photo of the fundraiser). However, if you would prefer not to upload a photo, please do what is best for you
· Write your story. You can use our suggested text or give your own personal reasons for why you are supporting us
· Share your success. You can upload the distance you have walked, videos, photos or live stream to your page and let your supporters know how you are doing
Update your supporters on your progress by entering how far you’ve walked on your individual fundraising page. You can also do this automatically by connecting your Strava app to your page. Your team page will also update automatically when you track your individual progress.
By logging your progress on your page, you can track your milestones and be added to our leader boards. There are prizes for the individual and team who raise the most money.
We are asking you to set a target of £200 per person or £1000 per team. There are prizes for the top fundraisers, so don’t be shy to ask your family, friends and colleagues to sponsor you.
We’ll email you a fundraising pack with tips and advice to help you.
Yes, if they are eligible, they could increase the value of their donations by 25% at no additional cost to them. They will be asked about this when they use the donation form.
Help us to build a new, safe refuge for women and children fleeing domestic abuse and modern slavery.
Imagine never having a key to a safe space you can call your own. Never having a place where you feel secure, warm and protected. Never having somewhere where you are sure that no-one will hurt you.
o £10 could buy a kettle for someone to make themselves a cup of tea on the day they move into refuge
o £100 could buy fresh bed linen and towels for a mother and her children to make them feel valued and welcomed
o £1000 could buy a cooker, table and chairs for a family recovering from trauma to cook and eat together
We hope that each team of 5 will work towards a target of £1000.
If targets are not met, or are even exceeded, we will still use the money raised for our ‘crisis fund’ for families leaving refuge to help them furnish their new homes, or for our longer-term refuge-building programme which is being completed as and when funds are released.
How you do your sponsored walk is entirely up to you! Just choose your distance and plan a route through the West Midlands canal network to ‘cut’ out abuse. You can complete your challenge during your lunch break at work, or during a day out. You can even take your time and do it over a couple of weekends or in the early evening. However, please ensure that you complete the challenge during the month of September.
If you have a query or require assistance, please email our fundraising team.