It began with mums who needed somewhere to be heard.

Motherwell started small. In 2015, in Crewe, a counsellor who had spent years listening to women with complex mental-health needs — many of them mothers, many of them survivors of abuse or trauma — set up a community interest company to fill the gaps she kept seeing in the system. The idea was simple: a place where mums could talk honestly about the mothering journey, be believed, and find practical help without judgement.

By 2017 the demand was clear enough that Motherwell became a charitable incorporated organisation, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. What followed was a decade of steady growth shaped entirely by what women asked for: counselling and peer support, wellbeing days and creative workshops, a baby bank and share hub in Crewe, a community launderette in Winsford, period dignity bins in surgeries and libraries across the county, and sports bags for hundreds of local women’s and girls’ teams.

“Our new name embodies this broader vision while staying true to our core values of inclusivity, empowerment and community-driven support.”

In April 2025 Motherwell Cheshire became Her-Place Charitable Trust. The work had long since expanded beyond maternal support, and the new name says so: a place for her, at every age and every stage of life. The projects, partnerships and safe spaces carried on unchanged; so did the values — self-development, heart of the community, innovation, empathy and sustainability.

Why a lottery, and why now

Grants and one-off fundraising events have carried Her-Place for a decade, but they rise and fall with each funding round. A weekly community lottery gives the charity something it has never had: a small, predictable, local income that supporters can give without thinking twice — a pound a week that stays in Cheshire.

We have designed it deliberately. At least 55p of every £1 goes to the work. Prizes are modest by design. It is 18+ only, and as a mental-health charity we say plainly that we would rather someone stopped playing than played beyond their means. If that sounds like the opposite of most lottery marketing, that is the point.

Where we are now: a new Women’s Centre opening in September 2026, a wellbeing van appeal, and a growing team of staff and volunteers. Where we go next is, as ever, up to the women who walk through the door.