This trio of businesswomen are proving three heads are better than one when it comes to fundraising.

Alison Hazledine, Melanie Hamer and Rebecca Collins, founders of the South Wales Ladies Business club, are throwing a big top charity ball to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The three set up the club three years ago to give businesswomen the opportunity to network with like-minded ladies and it now has more than 600 members.

Having raised £6,800 at the annual ball last year, which had a black and white theme, they are hoping to top that at the event on January 29 at the Mercure Holland House Hotel and Spa, Cardiff.

And despite the recession, the trio have already managed to sell more than 250 tickets.

Divorce lawyer Melanie, 44, said “We always hold it at the beginning of the year because we think it’s something for people to look forward to after Christmas. January is often a gloomy, depressing month.

“We chose the circus theme because a number of us went to see Take That in the Millennium Stadium last year and it worked for them so we thought, ‘Why can’t it work for us too?’

“We’ve got circus performers and a great band called Bogart, who are certain to get everyone on the dance floor. We also have some fantastic auction and raffle prizes on offer, including signed goods from Bryn Terfel, a signed CD from the Stereophonics, a signed Cardiff City shirt and a signed rugby ball from the Blues.”

The partner at Cardiff-based Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice added: “at this stage we’ve sold more tickets than in previous years so it looks set to be our best annual ball yet.”

Ms Collins, 34, of Handelsbanken bank, said: “The reason we’re choosing to support Teenage Cancer Trust is because I used to work with someone whose 16 year-old brother died of cancer about 18 months ago.

“The teenage cancer unit at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, was in the process of being built at the time but unfortunately he died before he could take advantage of it.”

For more information on the charity ball or to book tickets, call Helen Vincent on (01633) 810 081 or e-mail helen.vincent@kilsbywilliams.com.

Domestic abuse will affect one in four women in the UK during their lives, official figures show.

Now charities in Taff Ely are doing their bit to ease the problem for women, families and communities.

The shocking statistics come from Women’s Aid refuges across the UK, and it has been estimated that 12,000 families in Rhondda Cynon Taff alone may be affected by the harrowing crime.

The Pontypridd branch of the charity is reassuring the community of what is being done about domestic abuse in the area.

Kate Edwards, a solicitor with Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice LLP and chairwoman of Pontypridd Women’s Aid, said: “Local agencies have recently commissioned the Kafka Brigade to review the performance of all the agencies involved in domestic abuse.

“The aim of the review was to understand the barriers for service users in getting acces to the services they need.

“A significant outcome of the review was the development of a multi-agency action plan to address the issues highlighted and improve services to people experiencing domestic abuse.

“As a direct result, we have begun to work more closely together to develop and improve the service to women and children approaching Women’s Aid for help.”

Kate added that this is a major step forward for Women’s Aid, which has provided support services to women and children in Rhondda Cynon Taff for more than 30 years.

The charity is often most closely associated with its refuge service, while it also supports women in their own home through our floating support service, as well as via the drop-in service where women can come and talk about their situation.

Women’s Aid have continued to work in partnership with the Rhondda Cynon Taff supporting people team, community housing and Pontypridd Safety Unit to support women escaping domestic abuse.

The branch’s board of trustees comprises of five professional women with a broad range of skills and abilities.

But the group is always looking for more help and they currently have opening for additional trustees, particularly with finance skills.

If you are interested in becoming a trustee of Pontypridd Women’s Aid, please contact Siobhan Scullion at actingdirector@pontypriddwa.org.uk.

The timing couldn’t be worse.

St Dwynwen’s Day it may be but for many people across Wales, divorce not devotion is on their mind.

January is the most popular month of the year for divorces and Welsh solicitors have once again seen an increase in clients.

Melanie Hamer, a partner at Cardiff-based Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice said historically January is the busiest month for divorces for a variety of reasons.

She said “A lot of people stay together over Christmas for the sake of their children. They make a decision to have one last family Christmas together before splitting.

"We find that often the number of new clients drops in the week before Christmas but then jumps dramatically after the festive period, perhaps with people making it their new year’s resolution to lose their partners like others might choose to lose weight.

"Other couples spend increased time at home within four walls which they’re not used to and emotions build up like a pressure cooker.

"They may be stressed because they have spent too much money and this adds to the pressure-cooker environment.”

She said that both the number of new clients and the amount of hits on their website doubles in the week after Christmas and trebled in the following week.

Mel Merritt, a spokeswoman for Relate, said they experience 50% more calls in January compared to December.

She said “At the start of the new year, people either resolve to fix their problems or draw a line under them and move on. We would urge anyone having problems to call relate as we can either held mend a relationship or reduce conflict.”

A 53-year old from Pontypridd, who asked to remain anonymous, had been separated from her partner for almost a year when she decided to inquire about getting a divorce and start with a clean slate for the year ahead.

She added: “The festive period was very unpleasant for my daughter and I and we didn’t want the same thing for the following year. We wanted a new start and to put it behind us. I decided January was the month to start finalising the end of my relationship. My husband had gone and I had to accept it and start afresh, which meant plucking up courage to go to the solicitors.”

The recession was blamed last night for the falling rate of divorce in Wales and England.

According to data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), divorces decreased 5% in 2008 to 121,779 from 128,232 in 2007.

By 2008 – the fifth consecutive year divorce numbers had dropped – there had been a vast reduction from a peak of 153,176 in 2003.

It is also the lowest figure since 1975 when there were 120,522 divorces.

But the results also showed that, compared with 2007, divorce rates in England and Wales increased for men up to 39 and over 60, and for women aged 20 to 34 and 50 to 59.

For the fourth year running, both men and women in their late twenties had the highest divorce rates of all five-year age groups.

In 2008, there were 26.3 divorces per 1,000 married men aged 25 to 29 and 27.8 per 1,000 married women aged 25 to 29.

This compared with 16.8 divorces per 1,000 married men aged 45 to 49 and 14.6 per 1,000 married women aged 45 to 49 in the same year.

Results also revealed there were 106,763 children aged under 16 who were in families where the parents got divorced.

The number has fallen 29% from a decade earlier, when there were 150,129 children in the same situation.

Christine Jones, Relate services manager for Wales, said many couples had been forced to stay together because of the recession, as the slow housing market prevented them selling and dividing the proceeds.

She added: “We’ve had couples coming to counselling, who can’t afford to separate because they can’t sell the house. I think the recession’s had an impact on that.”

But divorce lawyer, Melanie Hamer, of Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, based in Cardiff, said she anticipated a dramatic increase in divorces as the economy improves.

Ms Hamer said “There was a study done during the last big recession in America in the 1920’s.

“It was amazing how far fewer people were divorcing because of the recession”.

“Also when there’s plenty of money washing around people can go off and pursue other lifestyles and interests and possibly have relationships away from home.”

“When cash is tight they haven’t got the money to do it because they can’t afford to go out.”

Relate claims their marriage support works, with 80% of respondents to a survey who wanted to stay together saying they felt counselling helped to strengthen their relationship.

Research has also shown 50% of separated people said they felt there were things they could have done to prevent their break-up, and they wished they had done more.

Yesterday’s statistics also showed that in 2008, the divorce rate in England and Wales decreased by 2.5% to 11.5 divorcing people per 1,000 married population, compared with 11.8 in 2007.

The average age at divorce increased for both men and women in 2008.

The average age for men divorcing was 43.9 in 2008 an increase from 43.7 years in 2007.

For women this increased from 41.2 years in 2007 to 41.4 years in 2008.

Cheryl and Ashley Cole need to avoid a messy split like that of Heather Mills and Paul McCartney and follow the Madonna and Guy Ritchie model of divorcing with dignity, a Welsh divorce lawyer said last night.

Melanie Hamer said the pair must get themselves "committed family lawyers" who are determined to settle amicably.

The singer dumped her footballer husband on Tuesday following claims the England star was unfaithful during the pair's three-and-a-half year marriage.

Having pointedly removed her wedding ring, X Factor judge Cheryl flew home after a spell in Los Angeles, while Ashley left the couple's mansion.

Ms Hamer, 44, also pointed to Peter Andre and Katie Price's separation as an example of the kind of acrimonious separation the couple should avoid.

The lawyer, a partner at the Cardiff-based Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, said: "They need to take stock of what happened with Paul McCartney and Heather Mills and how wrong that went."

Ms Hamer, who represented former Wales and Celtic star John Hartson during his divorce from ex-wife Lowri, added: "They should look at the Madonna and Guy Ritchie approach where it was all dealt with very quietly, without any great publicity and without any great acrimony."

The Mills-McCartney divorce was one of the most unpleasant in recent history.

Mills admitted she threw water over McCartney's lawyer, Fiona Shackleton, and described the £24.3m settlement she was awarded as "outrageous".

And following Price's bitter divorce from Andre, she recently remarried cage fighter Alex Reid, prompting Andre to break down live on Sky News while talking about his ex-wife and their two children, Junior and Princess.

For the past few days, Cheryl has been in LA, where she has been caught on camera in the regular company of dancer Derek Hough, 24, who appears in her latest video.

The singer, who topped the charts with Fight For This Love, stuck by Ashley after allegations of infidelity surfaced two years ago.

But further allegations that his phone had been used to send sexual photos to a glamour model and further "kiss and tells" appear to have become too great a strain on the relationship.

Relate Cymru manager Christine Jones said counselling could help prevent the divorce turning messy.

She said: "Quite often infidelity is an issue with divorce, but that can be handled with dignity and that is something that does present in counselling quite a lot.

“It's not just infidelity alone, it's the reasons behind it and the causes of it.”

The 29-year-old Chelsea footballer was yesterday said to have blamed the breakdown of his three-and-a-half-year marriage to Cheryl on his mother-in-law. Cheryl's mother, Joan Callaghan, 49, moved into their £6m Surrey mansion two years ago.

Cheryl Cole is already said to be looking to buy a £2.1m villa in Hollywood.

The performer, 26, has maintained a dignified silence in recent days, letting her high-profile performance at the Brit Awards a week ago, for which she had also removed her wedding band, do the talking.

Aberystwyth divorce lawyer, Alison Evans, said the separation could be done and dusted within months and the fact the couple have no children will speed up proceedings.

"Any divorce can go through in a relatively short period of time if there's consent on both sides.

"If there's nothing at issue and they agree to everything there's no need to hold the procedure up."

Girls Aloud singer Cheryl had spoken in interviews about one day wanting to start a family with her husband. Her career hit new heights thanks to her starring role on the judging panel for ITV1's The X Factor.

Her solo pop career has also flourished in recent months with the release of her debut album.

She is said to have told her husband she wanted the relationship to end in a simple text message.

A family lawyer has become the first in Wales to be admitted as a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers - one of the profession's most prestigious worldwide organisations.

Rhian Howells, a partner with Cardiff-based Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, has become one of just 540 Fellows of the IAML across the globe.

She said: "To be elected as a Fellow of the Academy is a personal honour, but more importantly it reflects the strength of our family law practice which has been one of the fastest-growing legal firms in Wales in recent years.

"Membership of the Academy is recognised worldwide as a stamp of approval for the quality of matrimonial services provided by a firm, while fellowship serves to underline this recognition."

Membership of the IAML is by invitation only. Lawyers who are interested in joining the Academy are asked to submit information about their legal practice, and must satisfy established criteria for membership to obtain the approval of the main board of admissions.

Since 1986, the IAML has grown steadily, both in terms of the countries represented and in terms of the overall membership.

Originally, most of the members were from the US and UK, but the number of countries now represented is 40.

Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice was founded with just three solicitors in 1996 as the first law firm in Wales devoted entirely to family law. It now has 14 fee earners.