The county's first helpline for Asian women will be officially launched next week with the release of 100 balloons bearing its freephone number.

The event will take place on February 20 on the steps of Oxford Town Hall, with Baroness Shreela Flather, the barrister who became the UK's first woman councillor from an ethnic minority, invited to launch the balloons.

She will be joined at the ceremony by Barbara Gatehouse, who will chair the Oxfordshire Asian Women's Helpline, and the project manager, Farah Zeb.

The helpline, on 0800 052 6077, offers free and confidential information and support service for South Asian women, aiming to ensure they are able to make use of services, such as housing, education, social services and employment.

It will be staffed by South Asian women, mostly volunteers, speaking Bengali, Punjabi, Gujerati and Urdu. Initially the line will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10am to noon. Outreach worker Kalbinder Singh will be on hand to iron out any difficulties in accessing services that could help.

Mrs Gatehouse said the launch would open doors to all sorts of support which women may have been failing to receive.

The independent project has received support from many agencies, including Oxfordshire Racial Equality and the Thames Valley Police Domestic Violence Unit.

Three-year funding for the helpline, totalling 200,000, has come from the National Lottery and the East Oxford Parliament's budget.