‘Warm Blackpool community centre hub has saved me from loneliness’

An 84-year-old woman who goes to her community centre every day to warm up has said she has been “saved from loneliness” there.

Sheila Underwood, from Blackpool, said she had found herself living in fuel poverty, worried sick about paying the bills with her pension, after her beloved husband of 59 years, Jim, died five years ago.

She said the financial stress made her feel down and lonely, at the same time as trying to coming to terms with her grief.

But the Grange Community Centre had “turned her life around”, she said, not only by keeping her warm and meeting new friends but also helping with advice on how to save energy.

In earlier life, Sheila worked in the Symbol Biscuits factory in Blackpool.

She said she became trapped in fuel debt through no fault of her own and had been struggling to pay the bills.

Sheila had cut her food down to just “one decent meal” a day and the roast dinners she grew up with every Sunday with a pudding were a thing of the past.

Groundwork, a charity which helps vulnerable people with hardship, brings “green doctors” to the community centre.

Sheila has been helped to save money on her bills by switching energy provider and putting energy saving measures in place in her home, such as putting specialised foil sheets behind radiators.

Sheila now has a wide circle of friends at the community centre, known as the “Grange girls”, and she also helps volunteer there.

“It’s saved me from loneliness,” she said.

Her “green doctor” also gave her a heated electric throw, a hot water bottle and draft excluders.

She said it had made a huge difference to her life.

“I’m more relaxed now and I put the heating on all over Christmas,” she said.

However, even with her cost saving measures she said she still was unable to buy any luxuries and never eats out.

“I can’t afford it,” she said.

Rachel Denby is one of Groundwork’s “green doctors”.She said their “simple but effective” energy-saving measures can have a massive effect on people’s lives – both financially and mentally.

She said: “A lot of people don’t consider the mental health impact on fuel poverty as well.

“If you’re sitting in a freezing cold house, having to sit there wearing your coat… every night, it can really affect your mental health.”