volunteer, Ms Toni Daniels has replaced Mrs. Susan Boyd as head of the organisation.

Mrs. Boyd, who managed to put the abuse of women at the forefront of the Bermudian social agenda during her one-year term at the helm of the women's advocacy group, stepped down as chairwoman of the Centre on November 1. Ms Daniels, 23, took over for an "indefinite'' period the same day.

Ms Daniels, an associate of Bermuda Research Services Ltd., said her primary goals as chairwoman will be to beef up the Centre's annual budget and improve the services currently offered. The Centre, which consists of some 140 members and about 60 to 80 volunteers, currently gets 40 percent of its funding from Government and the rest from the private sector.

"The main thrust of my leadership will be to increase our fund-raising capacity and to expand our court advocacy and community education programmes,'' she said.

Ms Daniels also said she planned to lead the Centre in the same aggressive but non-confrontational manner that has characterised the group's work since it was founded as the Rape Crisis Centre in the 1980s. "We are not radical in any way. We enjoy wide support in the community as a result and we plan to carry on in the same balanced way that we always have.'' Ms Daniels first volunteered at the Centre as a rape hotline counsellor in 1989 and was the Centre's vice-chairwoman at the time of her appointment. She will by succeeded in that role by Mrs. Pat Phillip-Bassett.