Free Self-Defence: 1,000 Hampshire Women and Girls Trained

A women-led self-defence organisation working across Hampshire says it has now taught more than 1,000 women and girls face to face, free of charge, and that more than half of them were under 18.

Ignite Your Power CIC is based in Andover and has been running for a little over two years. Its founder, Charlotte Male, wrote to Fareham News to share the milestone, which the organisation marked at the weekend. She set it up, she told us, “following my own experiences as a domestic abuse survivor, alongside more than 23 years in martial arts and almost a decade working within the security industry.”

On top of the 1,000 reached in person, the organisation says a further 1,500 women and girls have used its online webinars and resources, which it puts at a total reach of more than 2,500 people across the UK. “Every single session has been delivered completely free of charge,” its press release says.

Why “for women, by women”

The idea started, Charlotte says, with what she found when she went looking for self-defence classes an ordinary woman might actually go to.

“When I looked at what was available to help women protect themselves, I kept finding the same thing: classes taught by men, built around striking techniques that most women would never use under real pressure,” she said.

“In a survey of our community, 97% of women told us they would not attend a self-defence workshop led by a man. That is not a minor preference. That is an entire population of women being left without access to skills that could change, or save, their lives.”

So every programme the CIC runs is staffed entirely by women. Charlotte spent nearly a decade as a security consultant, and the organisation says she saw violence against women at first hand in that work. On the CIC’s own About page she describes herself as a mum, a security consultant, a martial artist and a domestic violence survivor, and writes: “As a mum and a domestic violence survivor, this work is deeply personal to me.”

The Warrior Project

Most of the Hampshire work now runs through The Warrior Project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and other grant funders: a programme of 60 free self-defence workshops for girls aged 12 and over, and for women, delivered across Hampshire over two years from June 2025.

There are two sessions. The introductory workshop covers situational awareness, de-escalation, setting boundaries through body language and voice, and techniques for the most common scenarios. The advanced one covers escapes from the ground and how to react to a weapon threat. The organisation recommends starting with the introduction, and people can repeat either. Every participant also gets access to its online personal safety hub.

When we checked the project page on 6 October it listed 45 community workshops delivered and 804 participants supported so far. The CIC’s impact page, covering June 2024 to June 2026 across all its work, counts 74 workshops and sessions, 1,256 attendees at in-person sessions and 1,444 people supported online.

Participants coming back to teach

The organisation says some women who first came along as participants have since returned as volunteers, and some are now training as instructors.

“Watching a woman walk out of one of our sessions standing taller than when she arrived: that is everything,” Charlotte said. “And when those same women come back and say they want to help deliver this to others, that is when you know you have built something real.”

She wants the work to keep growing. “Violence against women and girls is not going away on its own,” she said. “The more we talk about it, the more we normalise women taking their safety into their own hands, the more lives we can change. We are passionate about using every platform we can to push this conversation forward.”

What it means for you

There is no session in Fareham itself on the current events list, but two are within reach:

• Eastleigh, Sunday 8 November, 10.30am to 12pm: a free introduction to self-defence for women and girls at The Point, Leigh Road. Book on Eventbrite.
• Winchester, Saturday 21 November, 4pm to 5.30pm: an introduction to self-defence for women and girls at Badger Farm Community Centre. Book on Eventbrite.

Further sessions are listed in Andover. If nothing suits, the Warrior Project page has a waiting list that sends monthly emails with new dates and locations, and the organisation says it is always adding more. Schools, community groups and employers can ask about training through the CIC’s contact page.

Companies House lists the organisation as Ignite Your Power C.I.C., company 15804309, incorporated on 26 June 2024 under the name Warrior Collective CIC.