A Cumbrian group has celebrated 10 years of helping homeless people across the county. 

Time for Change West Cumbria is a not-for-profit social enterprise that was set up in 2013 with the aim of tackling homelessness, poverty, and unemployment in the county.

Over the decade, they have raised more than £3m and built projects to help those most in need in the community.

Founder and CEO Rachel Holliday was inspired to set up the company after her own experiences with homelessness. 

She said: "In my late teens, after some challenging years, I found myself homeless. I was never street homeless, but I 'sofa surfed.' It was a scary time and I developed a drug addiction. Luckily, when I asked my parents to take me back in, they did. They gave me support and I finally turned a corner, went to college, and entered full-time employment.

"What I realised is there were so many people like me in West Cumbria, many of whom don’t have parents to support them the way mine did, so I set about opening a homeless hostel."

Time for Change's first project, Calderwood House, was launched in 2015 and has helped keep more than 300 people off the streets since then. 

But, with the cost-of-living crisis causing homeless numbers to significantly increase, Rachel feels that those in power need to do more to help those who find themselves without sheltered accommodation. 

She said: "We desperately need more social housing. We need to be able to offer a range of accommodation for those in need. I believe small community grassroots organisations like ours hold the answers to many of the issues we face in society.

"We are so lucky to have an excellent relationship with Cumberland Council and we work together on all of our projects It would be good for the government nationally to see how this benefits our clients and residents and then invest in longer-term funding so we can create real change for the future, rather than the emergency response we have to do right now."

After 10 years of hard work, the staff and volunteers at Time for Change deserved to celebrate and did so at Solway Hall in Whitehaven, with the event hosted by Emma Jane Gooch, the chair of Time to Change West Cumbria.

Rachel said: "We had an excellent celebration at the Solway Hall organised by Together we can fundraise. It was an amazing event and to think 10 years ago I had an idea that no one really cared about, today we have hundreds of people who support us across Cumbria & the UK.

"Tackling these issues is never easy, but I’m blessed to be surrounded by a community who really care."