The charity ‘Band of Builders’ (BoB) has completed renovating the home of a mother of two and wife of a plasterer, who had her legs amputated in February after contracting meningococcal septicaemia – a rare and often fatal bloodstream infection.
BoB volunteer tradespeople completely revamped the ground floor of Cher Little’s home in Connah’s Quay, Flintshire. A new extension was built and a new low-level kitchen and wet room have been added, as well as refitting Cher’s bedroom. Doorways have also been widened with ramped access outside to make the home wheelchair accessible and give Cher more independence.
A renovation on this scale would normally take up to four months, but the team from BoB completed the project in just 31 days.
Cher said: “I couldn’t imagine how it was going to be – but this is absolutely incredible, and I can’t thank all of the volunteers enough for what they’ve done in giving me loads of living space.
“It has been a real struggle, but BoB has given me my freedom back and I can be happy again.”
East London-based building firm boss Kevin Cox acted as the BoB project manager on the three-phase renovation – which represented £120,000 worth of work – and saw plantworkers, bricklayers, builders, gas engineers, roofers, plumbers, electricians and decorators all descend on North Wales from as far afield as Southampton, Norfolk and Dundee.
Kevin said: “It was a privilege to be part of this project and to see how much it means to Cher and her family.
“I’m immensely proud of the work we’ve done to totally change Cher’s home and have the satisfaction of knowing the difference that it will make to her life – and that of her family.
“At any one time, there were 10-15 tradespeople on-site, and it was also a real privilege to work with a fantastic group of committed people who answered the call for help and gave their time for free to work on this project.”
Tony Steel, operations director at BoB, said: “The project has been our biggest to date, with our amazing volunteers coming from across the country to help Cher and her family. We have fantastic support from the industry, and charity partners have also donated much-needed materials. This is all the more remarkable after a year in which the construction industry has endured rising prices, supply chain disruption and staff shortages.”
>> You can read more about BoB’s work in the news by clicking here.
