Pensioner forced out of home by mould and rats moves back in after locals raise £120k for a makeover

SWNS

A frail pensioner forced out of her home by mould and rats has moved back in - after  locals raised 120K for a makeover.  Disabled Pat, 70, had become chronically ill from damp covering walls and furniture in her bungalow and moved out just before Christmas.  Generous businesses and kind locals then rallied together to complete a monster makeover after her living conditions were revealed on social media.  The property in Swindon, WIlts., had electricity in just two rooms and the central heating hadn't worked for two years.   Pat now has a new boiler and furniture, the rats have been pest controlled, the rotten flooring taken up and the damp dehumidified.  More than 150 local people and 70 companies helped to clean and refurbish the house - and she has now moved back in.  Pat said: "It's absolutely amazing what they've done for me.  "I'd like to thank them all from the bottom of my heart and I am so, so grateful to them all."  Pat's home was infested with rats, which she described as "awful" and "scary".  Her friend, Janet Reynolds, 44, had been helping her with weekly shops.  But she had not been inside her house since the pandemic and did not know how bad the situation had become.  When Pat asked Janet for help cleaning the bungalow Janet admits she was “horrified”.  Janet, a chef from Swindon, said: “The house was covered in thick, black mould - it was horrendous.  I could barely be in there myself.   “I’ve known her for 20 years - we used to work together. She thinks of me like a daughter.  "But after Covid happened, she stopped letting me into the house.   “I thought it was odd then she asked me for help cleaning.   “As soon as I stepped in, I knew she needed to get out.   "Everything was covered, and she was on antibiotics for double pneumonia.”  The pensioner is registered blind - and suffers from early onset heart failure.   Pat had been living without central heating and bathing with water from a kettle.   Janet “begged and pleaded” with her friend to move in with her instead - while she sought help to refurbish the house.   She set up a GoFundMe page to pay for local tradespeople, fumigators and supplies - where local tradespeople started offering their services.   Despite feeling “a little embarrassed'' Pat feels overwhelmed by the number of people who came out to help.  “She’s a very proud lady,” she added. “I told her, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.   “She started crying - she can’t believe how generous everyone’s been. The situation was really desperate.”  Pat has said she is looking forward to inviting her friends round for a cup of tea.  She added: "They can call in and see me on their way home from work, which is wonderful. Make my life normal again."

Transcript

00:00 I'm Pat Nicholls and I live in Swindon. I've had terrible mould in my home and people have been so kind.

00:07 And how long did it take for the mould to take over?

00:10 About three months maybe and it just literally took over.

00:16 When Jan brought Brendan out he told Jan she has to get me out because she will die in there.

00:23 It is so disgusting in there. The mould has taken over the whole house.

00:28 Up the hallway you would walk with your legs apart so that you didn't actually walk on the middle part of the floorboards.

00:36 Because that's where they had gone.

00:39 I couldn't breathe properly. You feel sick because of the smell.

00:45 It was overwhelming at times when you were in here.

00:50 So long as you stayed in the sitting room on the sofa and pushed the door to you were not too bad off.

00:59 But it was terribly dangerous. Terribly dangerous.

01:04 People have come from Swindon, Bristol, Birmingham and they've come to Cambridge and they've come and they've spent hours here.

01:14 They have been so, so kind. There are such kind people out there. There really, really is.

01:22 I'd like to thank every one of them and I would love to shake everyone's hands to say thank you because they have been amazing.

01:31 Thank you, Sam.

01:33 [Sound of door opening and closing]

01:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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