Sisters of Mercy open their doors to the vulnerable

A year ago the elegant country house, standing a stone's throw from where the Bronte sisters lived, stood empty and rundown.

Paint peeled from old window frames and overgrown shrubs and plants choked the stonework of the Edwardian building.

But this week, following an ambitious £480,000 renovation, the Oxenhope house was opened as a home for a group of young women with a range of emotional problems.

The house is run by Mercy Ministries UK, a charity helping women with problems such as sexual, physical and mental abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, depression, self-harming and eating disorders. Mercy Ministries UK, based in Bradford, is the British branch of an international charity started in the US, where there are three homes. There are two in Australia.

The Oxenhope house is the first Mercy Ministries home in Britain and applications have come in from women across the world. Two women moved in this week, and a further four will follow. There will be 11 eventually.

The aim is to provide a stable, loving environment and a programme of counselling and education enabling the women, aged 16 to 28, to re-build their lives.

It is a home, not a hostel. The emphasis is on self-sufficiency, with the women doing their own cooking, laundry and learning to take responsibility for themselves, but essentially there's a family atmosphere and support network, said Mercy Ministries UK director Kerry Slater.

She said: "For the girls coming here, this week marked the end and the beginning of a journey.

"It's the end of countless months of waiting, praying, hanging on to tattered shreds of hope.

"It's also a beginning, a fresh hope that there's a place willing to accept them, a place with expert knowledge and understanding of their problems, a place where they are loved unconditionally and accepted for who they are now, not just who they can become."

Set in two acres of tranquil grounds where the women will tend a vegetable patch and learn to ride horses, it's a haven where they can re-build their lives. But it's also a place of discipline and structure.

"What the girls go through here is tough because they're changing their lifestyles and their coping mechanisms," said Kerry. "They have to really want this.

"Mercy Ministries isn't just a fancy idea in a fancy house. For thousands of young women worldwide it has worked. This week was the start of it working in this country. We are here to help broken, vulnerable, desperate young women change their lives."

Women living in the house will take part in a counselling, life skills and education programme lasting up to a year, depending on individual needs. Kerry and her team have had letters, e-mails and phone calls from desperate young women as far away as South Africa.

Built in 1908, the house stands in a huge garden flanked by trees. It was bought for Mercy Ministries by an anonymous private trust for £560,000.

The charity raised £480,000 to renovate and furnish the property and £100,000 was matched by the trust.

The house will cost about £25,000 a month, from donations, to run.

The renovation started last December with a bunch of volunteers stripping wallpaper, then the builders moved in to replace the roof and windows and install central heating, hot water and electrics.

Most furniture has been donated by companies and individuals. A magnificent dining table was left by the previous owners of the house.

"The support we've had has been amazing," said Kerry. "Some people sponsored items like new windows and curtains, and we were given dining chairs, a sideboard and a dishwasher. We launched a gift list, like a wedding list, and a British woman living in America bought all the big items on it!

"A furniture company called Jaybe donated sofas and bedroom furniture - thousands of pounds worth - and we had bathroom equipment given by a plumbing company. Keighley-based contractors Woollers did the renovation, they were fantastic - they even made us a gate for the grounds and installed it as a gift."

As Kerry takes me through the house, it's hard to imagine what it looked like a year ago. "It needed a new roof and windows and totally re-wiring," she said.

"We could see the potential because it's such a lovely house but it had to be gutted. Because it's a multiple-occupancy property we had to adhere to things like fire regulations. The renovation itself only took about six months, everyone worked so hard. I can't believe what it looks like now, it's such a huge thing that we've done."

The renovation has retained original features such as beautiful mosaic tiling in the hallway. Off the hall is an elegant dining room where the women sit and eat together.

"Dining together is an important part of life here," said Kerry. "Most girls have eating disorders and eating around a table with each other is an important part of the treatment."

They also cook for themselves in the fitted kitchen and learn about food hygiene. Outside will be a vegetable patch where the girls can grow food and learn about nutrition in the process. There are also plans to renovate an old stable block and keep horses.

Kerry said: "Equine-assisted psychotherapy helps the confidence of people with physical and emotional problems.

"There's a great sense of achievement in learning to ride, and you develop an unconditional relationship working with horses."

Through the kitchen is an office where the staff are based. There's friendly banter among them as they make final preparations for the first arrivals. The house is staffed 24 hours a day, there are seven members of staff, mostly part-time, plus support workers and volunteers.

Leading off a spacious conservatory is a comfortable lounge complete with huge television, another donation. A new staircase, which had to be installed through the roof, leads up to the bedrooms, each shared by two girls, and bathrooms.

"It would have been cheaper to have a communal bathroom but we wanted the girls to have some privacy so each room has its own," said Kerry.