About us

Home-Start Ards Comber & Peninsula Area is a Voluntary organisation which is a registered Charity in N.I. with the aim of supporting families with young children through a difficult period.  Support is offered rather than imposed upon and can either be referred through your Health Visitor/Any other Health Professional or a Self Referral.  Reasons for support vary and can include:  Isolation, first time parenting/lone parenting, difficulties in coping with children’s behaviour/development, physical or mental health issues within the family, multiple births/children, help with accessing services, meet other parents and children or the need for some time out.

Our Scheme was established in June 1997 – we are an independent organisation which has been supporting families across the Newtownards, Comber, Ballygowan, Killinchy and Ards Peninsula Area since then.  Over the years, we have developed our services to suit the needs of our local communities and we work in partnership with many existing family services in our area.  We provide support through Volunteers plus paid Staff and welcome Volunteers from all backgrounds.  Our funding comes via many different sources and includes a Sure Start SLA for some of our catchment areas.

Practical and emotional support is offered through:  Home Visiting, Family Groups, Respite Play Group, Parenting Programmes and Seasonal Events (when funding allows) plus through our Charity Shops – one of which is a ‘Children’s Charity Shop’, used by many locals and from people outside our catchment areas in Bangor and Belfast.  We also have a general Charity Shop in the centre of Comber which again is an asset to the local town and beyond.  Our Charity Shops provide a service for local communities and help us to raise funds for the Scheme – we welcome donations and anyone interested in volunteering.

Our Main Office is:

9 Cuan Gardens

Greyabbey, BT22 2QG

telephone:  028 42788369

e-mail: hello@homestartacapa.org.uk where most of the staff are located and where some of our activities take place.  We can be contacted at this address Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm or leave a message on our answering machine or e-mail address.

Other locations include:

2 Ann Street, Newtownards, BT23 7AB – telephone:  028 91828468 where our Children’s Charity Shop runs from and where Volunteer Training, Meetings and Family Group take place.

52 Castle Street, Comber, BT23 5DZ – where our General Charity Shop runs and is open Monday- Saturday late morning to early afternoon and generally closed on Fridays.

All contact relating to Family Support, Volunteering, the Comber Charity Shop or general enquiries – please contact our main office at Greyabbey, 028 42788369