Disabled after a work accident, she joined her sister Chris in some voluntary work at Demesne. Mal is very much an active person and becoming immobile meant that she could feel herself sinking into depression. Always stimulated by a challenge, she felt that she wanted to do more for the estate and is passionate that people should be able to live how they choose to live. She was one of the initial founders of DARTs Demesne Action for Tenant and Residents Group, where she is still the chair of the group. She believes that community centres are an essential base where people can come for support, socialising and to feel that you are "not on your own." By being involved she has been able to get a wider perspective of what is happening in the community and has seen "both the best and worst of all scenario's. Its made me a less selfish person, it makes you realize that everyone has troubles or difficult situations to deal with in their life and we all need support. There is a huge sense of fun to be had working as a volunteer and i carry on because i like it!
Seeing the funny side of life has helped Mal get through some difficult times. I was on Granada Report one day, because i thought the whole house was under attack.......... it was shaking and making such a load noise........ no-one had thought to tell me that you had to run off the hot water, the Parkray had been on all day and was completely overloading the system! I can laugh at it now, but at the time it was frightening.
It is important to Mal to develop projects that really help people. When we started "sparkles launderette" it was a vital service, not everyone had a washing machine and many people particularly older residents needed this service.
I have 4 good kids and 11 grandchildren and i am really pround of their achievements and that they are great people. I think it is important to be a good role model to them and encourage them to be the best they can be. Undoubtably proud of their achievements, Mal thinks the thing she is most proud of in all her achievements is learning to walk again. "When i became disabled, I could have given up, but i'm too much of a fighter"
She also talks positively about Langley and its people. "The community spirit here is second to none and throughout its time, Langley has been one of the safest council estates in the country"
"Lots of change in a community takes time. I fought for 10 or 11 years to change to a social landlord from the council. The changes on the estate have been coming into effect, from being an estate with a "poor reputation" its now swung round to become the place where people really want to be! Really the whole re-generation of the area is a huge 30 year business plan and we've had to fight every bit of the way to get it! Again, we don't get it right all the time, but we've had to learn such a lot and we are always looking for people to come onboard and put forward their ideas"
We had to go down to London to petition the government for the 5.5 million pounds needed to improve the environment of the estate, the things that help all the people like the playgrounds, off road parking and improve the general appearance of the estate, but they didn't hand it to us on a plate, we had to fight all the way.
|
