The Olive Branch, Winchester celebrated the opening of its new self-contained premises on Saturday 24^th September 2011.

The new premises were officially opened by The Mayor of Winchester at 2.00p.m on Saturday 24^th September, followed by a short Service of Dedication and Thanksgiving which was conducted by the Very Reverend James Atwell, Dean of Winchester.

After the official ceremony members of the public were welcomed into the building to see the work that the counselling service offers to people in the area, and to have an eye-witness opportunity to view at first- hand how the service operates from the initial point of contact.

Client numbers have grown steadily year on year. In 2010 some 444 clients visited The Olive Branch in contrast to the 14 clients using the service when the organisation first opened in 1997. The new premises have 8 individual counselling rooms together with a training and/seminar room.

Sharon Mills, Director of The Olive Branch said, ’Our new premises offer exciting opportunities ahead. We have an excellent team of trained counsellors, who are all volunteers, offering a professional service from our very own building. With the additional space that our new building provides we will be able to increase the number of counselling sessions we can offer which will ensure that our service will go from strength to strength and continue to fill an ever increasing need in the community.’

We were also pleased also to welcome some “old friends” and visitors from local churches.    3 of our 4 original members who started the Olive Branch back in 1996 were able to join us.