- On 23rd November (the morning of the heavy snow!) my dear mother (Tricia Hayes, age 64) was knocked out of her bed at 9am and pulled out into the street, in her PJs and with nothing on her feet, to watch the house that she dearly loved going up in flames before her eyes!! Thank goodness for the neighbour who saw the flames and called 999 while running over to get her out of the house, or this could have been a much sadder story! Thankfully most of her possessions were saved and my mother is ok (if rather still in shock) I will forever be grateful for the neighbour who most likely saved her life and all the others who looked after her in those first few hours while the fireman were working to put the flames out, and came to help moving rubble and getting her favourite furniture and belongings out to storage in safer spaces!
Sadly the house itself is largely destroyed. The kitchen is a burnt out husk and the winds quickly blew the fire upwards destroying most of the roof and the upper bedrooms. In another tragic twist of fate she was quite certain she had home insurance (she has Always had home insurance) and spent half a day looking for her policy only to find she doesn't have one! She knows she went online and got a quote and thought she had finalised it but perhaps failed to press the final button to confirm the deal (easily done when you're an older person navigating the confusing world of online interactions) so now she's left with nothing -after a lifetime of working hard and living frugally to finally own her own home and hopefully have some security in her old age!
My mum's had some difficult times since moving to Scotland in 2020. Lockdown was very hard for her, being a naturally active and sociable person to be stuck at home in a place where she hadn't had chance to make any friends yet. She finally met some lovely people through Stand in the Park in Musselburgh but due to noisy troublesome neighbours had already decided to move to Livingston to be closer to me. She ended being homeless the whole of December '21 due to complications of moving house -then she got severely ill over the xmas period and missed out on family celebrations! A year later in Dec '22 we lost my sister Steffeny in tragic circumstances, a very dark time for my family indeed.
My mum found herself very lonely in Livingston being far away from her new friends and she suffered from some depression at the loss of her eldest child. She moved to Tranent in November '23, her third house move in four years and the first place she has finally felt comfortable and settled and part of a loving community. She loved that little house and said she felt happy there every day, looking out over her garden, knowing she had friends nearby. We'd just spent 10K getting it fixed up so she could have lodgers and thus have an income to serve as her pension. It breaks my heart to think of all the care and effort she had put in to making the place nice, only to watch it all burn down right in front of her.
My sweet mummy is one of the nicest people you could ever meet, she really cares about people and is always rushing around helping friends in need, giving her time, energy and emotional support (even financial support) whenever she sees someone struggling. Standing barefoot in the snow while your house burns down is like something from a movie -please help this movie have a happy ending by supporting this crowdfunder and help get my momma back into the house where she finally found happiness!!
I know it's a difficult time of year for giving money. I imagine this will be an ongoing project and we'd like to keep the fundraiser open for at least 6 months, but the sooner we get some funds in the sooner we can get her back under her own (currently non-existent) roof.
Her friends and neighbours have been incredible at offering support and I am so grateful for all the help and love we've received so far! She's a brave lady and is handling it remarkably well but staying with friends is only a short-term solution and she really needs her own space for the sake of long-term emotional wellbeing.
If people can offer time, resources, contacts... anything to help with the process of moving rubble and getting the (wooden) walls and roof fixed this is also appreciated!!
Here's a picture of my family in happier times.