Charity gets 'record-breaking' support to help Norfolk boy
The charity was started by Addam Smith in 2016 after one of his workers was diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Since then it has helped many people with practical assistance such as providing home adaptations, financial grants and wellbeing support.
In its latest endeavour, the charity called for tradespeople to help with "Toby's project" in Foulden, near Swaffham.It said the boy's father, Shaun Fletcher - an electrician - was doing renovations on his home that included building a wet room, so the 15-year-old did not have to be carried up and down the stairs. Mr Steel added: "Unfortunately things became a little bit too much for him and he took his own life on Christmas Eve." He said the group's intention was to complete the work that was started.If you have been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via BBC Action Line.
The charity regularly uses social media to call for tradespeople to help with its builds, but the response to Toby's Project had been "absolutely incredible" and "record-breaking" with about 150 applicants, Mr Steel said."The people in Norfolk have just been absolutely stunning, really, and within two days we had something like 130 volunteers apply to come and give us a hand to make this project work."Without them we wouldn't be able to do these sorts of things."
Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
43 minutes ago
- BBC News
Staff at former Daventry BBC site are 'custodians of legacy'
Staff at a former BBC radio transmission station that opened 100 years ago say they are "custodians of the legacy".The station on Borough Hill in Daventry, Northamptonshire, opened on 27 July beamed the BBC World Service across the globe for 60 years before closing in site is now occupied by telecommunications firm Arqiva and maintains transmitters across the country. The landmark site once had 40 masts and towers, but now one solitary 100m (328ft) mast remains, transmitting digital transmitter halls at Borough Hill look very different now, were once home to huge racks of equipment, with glowing water-cooled valves, flashing lights and indicator needles in glass they are now full of metal shelves and look very like any of the dozens of warehouses that have sprung up in Daventry since the BBC the Arqiva staff here have not forgotten the role played by this hilltop encampment in the BBC days. Stuart Turpin, warehouse and logistics lead at the site, said he was "a custodian of the legacy - you're looking after the place, you're doing your best to maintain it as well, and keep the legacy going".The warehouses hold spares for transmitters across the UK - anything from a small lithium battery to a giant antenna. A small team of engineers repairs broken transmitter components and tests them thoroughly before sending them back Critchley, a senior engineer, said: "This is vital - this is what keeps the broadcast network on air."Anything that's out in the field, at a transmitter site, is replicated here at Daventry so we can make sure it's working, ready to be used again."Mr Critchley said he lived in Daventry as a child and would "look up at Borough Hill thinking 'what a wonderful place it would be to work'."So here I am." Another key part of the site's role now is what is called disaster recovery (DR).If a transmitter collapses, catches fire or just refuses to work, there are mobile cabins that can be sent out with all the equipment needed to get TV or radio services back on air, including temporary masts. Alan Storer, an engineer, was involved in restoring services when the Bilsdale mast in North Yorkshire caught fire, disrupting TV and radio for a million people."We got most of the services up and running within the first week," he said."We had DR containers placed in places so that work [on a permanent replacement] could carry on but services would still be broadcast."He added that the history of Borough Hill was one of the things that inspired him to get a job there."It's a dream come true for me," he said. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Tim Dowling: a tribute to my father-in-law, droll master of mischief
When my wife and I got engaged 33 years ago, she immediately rang her mother. 'We're getting married, Jesus Christ,' she said down the phone. Then she laughed for a bit, then she hung up. 'She says you have to go and see my father to request my hand in marriage,' my future wife said. 'What?' I said. 'Are you kidding?' 'Apparently not,' she said. Her parents had been divorced since she was nine, but they were on good terms. 'Fine,' I said, even though I'd already basically changed my mind about the whole business. I had to put off calling my own mother, in case my future father-in-law said no. We drove up the road to my girlfriend's father's house, where he lived with his second wife. They had only just got married themselves, or maybe they hadn't yet. It was that same summer, in any case. We drank tea in the garden and made small talk for long enough that I began to hope the time for requesting hands had safely passed. Then my wife turned to her father and said, 'Why don't you show him your extension?' My wife's father and I went upstairs to examine his half-finished loft conversion. If I recall correctly, the last leg of the journey was by ladder. He showed me where his spare bedroom and office and second bathroom would eventually go. And then a terrible silence fell, into which I cleared my throat awkwardly. I imagined there was a form of words for this sort of thing, but I didn't know what it was. 'So, I guess the reason I've come here today,' I said, 'is really to ask your permission to marry your daughter.' A considerable pause followed. 'I see,' he said finally, raising an eyebrow. 'And how do you plan to keep her in the style to which she has become accustomed?' I didn't expect questions. 'Well,' I said. 'I sort of figured she might eventually get used to worse.' He gave me a long and grave look, so grave that I cast my own eyes downward. That's when I noticed there was no floor; we were standing on joists, and I was looking down into the room below us. I thought: it would be the work of a moment for him to push me through. My father-in-law died a few weeks ago, at the age of 95. My wife was with him in hospital, and when she rang to tell me the news, I did not immediately think of this 33-year-old episode – the episode of the requesting of the hand. But it came to mind soon after I put the phone down. At the time I did not know my future father-in-law very well. I did not think of him as a man who was fond of mischief, or even capable of it. I had every reason to believe he was serious when he asked me that question, and that he strongly disapproved of my answer. It did not occur to me that he might just be messing with me, that he might have been tipped off about my intentions by his ex-wife. Or that he might have already put a celebratory bottle of champagne in the refrigerator in preparation. But he had. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Also, I realise only now, my wife must have been in on it. 'Did I know?' she says when I ask her. 'I don't think so. Wait, yes, I did.' My father-in-law could also be a man of surprising and unprompted generosity, once volunteering to have our dog for the whole of Christmas and New Year, while we went away. When my wife rang him on Christmas Day – with justifiable apprehension – to see how things were working out, he insisted the dog had been no trouble. 'Has he taken the right dog?' I said. Only later did we find out that just before lunch she'd pulled the Christmas ham off the table and run out the door with it. He had the right dog after all. The day after my father-in-law died I found myself back in his attic extension, with my wife and his wife and my three sons, going through old papers and photographs and stuff, the accumulation of a long life. I had been up in this room so few times over three decades that it was astonishing to see 30 years of wear on the walls and window frames. I reflected on how a true sense of mischief requires one to cultivate a certain reputation for sternness, so as not to give the game away. Of course people who know you will eventually catch on. You can't fool them for ever. I looked down at my feet, and I thought: somewhere under there, under the carpet, under the floorboards, are the very joists we stood on.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Luton couple with white peacock in garden desperate to find owner
A married couple said they were desperate to find the owner of a white peacock which has taken up residence in their 83, and Bernie Deamer, 81, from Cockernhoe, Hertfordshire, said when it arrived last month, they went online to try and find its owner but got no both said it was a beautiful and friendly bird, which they named "Snowy" as it is completely said police told them that it was possible it had been stolen and then dumped. Mrs Deamer said when Snowy "landed" at their home near Luton, it jumped next door, but when they started putting out food for the pheasant, it came back."He was very, very loud when he first arrived – it was like a strong screech," she said."He just eats the clover and the pheasants' food, and he has never gone for a flower."The couple phoned nearby Hatfield House and Luton Hoo to ask if they owned the bird. They also contacted the RSPCA, but Ms Deamer said it was "not interested as it is not hurt".The RSPB said: "Whilst they can be seen in the wild in India, a lot of white peacocks are bred to be white to be used at events/weddings etc for their colouration."Ms Deamer said the bird is not ringed and they "cannot give it away as it is not our bird".She wanted someone to come and get it, but at the same time, admitted she would miss it if someone did claim it. Mr Deamer said the bird must belong to someone and added: "It could be microchipped, but you need to get close to him to check."He wanders about, and then he disappears. It is a stunning bird"Mrs Deamer said: "The fascinating thing is, at night, it goes about 60 feet up a tree and then comes down the next morning and straight into the garden."She is worried the peacock "won't survive in the winter as it is too open and we have foxes and it will be horrific". Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
