Peter's story
Peter is an outgoing man, who has worked as a civil servant for
almost 30 years. He now lives with his sister, Helen, also a
civil servant, and together they have dedicated just under 50 years
to supporting UK public life. However things took a turn for
the worse when Peter and Helen moved into a lovely new flat in the
Midlands, only to discover they had very difficult neighbours, who
made their lives a misery.
Living in constant fear of mental and physical attacks has taken
its toll on their mental health and has led to both of them to take
early retirement. Peter describes his sister’s increasingly
nervous state of mind and the mental strain this situation has
placed upon him. Having had their car written off by the people
next door, Peter and Helen have installed a sealed letter box for
fear of petrol attacks and security lights in an attempt to protect
themselves.
“We would never have moved here if we had had any idea that the
neighbours would be so unbearable,” Peter says. “We’re desperate to
move but our company pension doesn’t go far and also means that we
do not qualify for any state benefits. We were absolutely in
despair and it seemed that every avenue we tried for some financial
help would only turn us away. We had really thought quite seriously
about whether life was worth continuing.”
This is when 'turn away' became Turn2us. A housing officer
suggested contacting Turn2us in the hope of finding a suitable
grant-giving organisation. Three applications later, Peter
describes feeling euphoric when he opened the reply from the Civil
Service Benevolent Fund (CSBF), advising that they had awarded him
a grant for £800. The money will cover the removal costs and pay
for some new carpet. In addition Elizabeth Finn Care has been able
to offer assistance towards new white goods, in their case a cooker
and a washing machine for the new property.
“Knowing we can accept the next flat that comes up has taken a
huge weight off our shoulders, we just can’t say thank you enough”,
says Peter, almost overcome with enthusiastic praise for Turn2us.
“We had never heard of two of the charities Turn2us recommended to
us and I had also completely forgotten about CSBF, even though we
had both made contributions to it over many years.”
“Turn2us were nothing short of brilliant,” Peter enthuses, when
asked for some feedback on the service. “We were instantly put in
touch with relevant organisations and I was greatly reassured to
know that the Turn2us adviser could continue searching the database
until a suitable organisation was found. We were really banging our
heads against a brick wall before and this one phone call has
completely turned our lives around.”
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