Home-Start Wessex is delighted to have won a Gold Community Support Award at the Weymouth Business Awards 2025 in recognition of its positive impact on the local community.
Organised by Marketing West, the Weymouth Business Awards recognise and reward local businesses that have significantly contributed to the local economy. The Community Support Award, sponsored by The Lantern Trust, is open to businesses, individuals and organisations that can demonstrate their involvement and support for their community through services, fundraising or physical or mental assistance.
Home-Start Wessex offers friendship, practical support and emotional advice to parents in Dorset with at least one child under 5 when they are in crisis, providing specialist groups and one-to-one home visits.
At the awards ceremony in Weymouth, judges commended Home-Start Wessex for expanding its work across Dorset, including the Weymouth area, and providing much needed support for families who are struggling for a variety of reasons including poor mental health, postnatal depression, disability, domestic abuse, bereavement, isolation, financial hardship and multiple births.
When Home-Start West Dorset became a victim of the funding crisis in October 2023, Home-Start Wessex immediately extended its reach to help families in Weymouth, Portland, Bridport, Dorchester, and down to Lyme Regis. In January 2025, the charity opened a Weymouth Haven group, welcoming Weymouth families every Monday morning to drop in and access free support. These groups provide a safe space for little ones to explore, grow and learn and help parents to gain confidence. One mum said, “Just being with the group and making new friends, my confidence has grown 100%.”
Belinda Hewett, Head of Operations of Home-Start Wessex, received the award and said, “We are so incredibly proud to collect this award on behalf of Home-Start Wessex today. It’s amazing because we’ve been in the area for about 18 months, and we want to thank everyone for being so welcoming. We could not run this service without our volunteers, and we thank them so much. This award is really for them today.”
The charity is actively recruiting kind, compassionate volunteers to offer emotional and practical support to parents with young children in Weymouth and across Dorset. If you could spare a few hours a week to help local families through challenging times and make a difference in your community, please contact heidi@homestartwessex.org.uk. No experience is needed – just a big heart and a listening ear, as full training and ongoing support are provided.
Over the last year, the charity has transformed 1,682 lives, helping a record 501 families. Their reach covers the Purbecks, Swanage, Weymouth, Dorchester, Bridport, the whole of the BCP Council area, including Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, across the borders of Hampshire and Wiltshire, going as far north as Cranborne and Fordingbridge and as far east as New Milton – a huge area with a population of over 650,000, including many pockets of high-level deprivation.
www.homestartwessex.org.uk