00:00When you're ready then, Dan.
00:02Yeah, so I'm here with one of Wayne. How you doing? You okay?
00:04Not too bad.
00:05Obviously, you've just been through a very devastating and devastating blaze.
00:09We have, yes.
00:11But from that, obviously, there's been an amazing appeal come across with
00:15pretty much the whole community helping out, donating stuff.
00:17I mean, it's got to be nice seeing the whole community.
00:19It's overwhelming. Like you said, you settle down at night time
00:24and it's like you start thinking about what people have done for you
00:27and pulled together.
00:29And to be honest, I sat there last night and started to cry
00:33thinking of what people have done.
00:35Because it's so, well, you don't expect it really, do you?
00:38No.
00:39No.
00:40But I mean, seeing, because obviously,
00:43Arne's been out grabbing all the stuff as well.
00:46You've seen all the stuff in there.
00:47Some of it might not be usable because of like shoe size, sizes and whatnot.
00:50But just having that notion of people giving the stuff to you
00:55and helping out the best that they can.
00:57So, yeah, if we could just talk a little bit about the fire itself.
01:01Obviously, it's still an ongoing investigation.
01:03We can't talk too much about it, but it's devastating, isn't it?
01:06It was. It was quite shocking when it happened
01:08because obviously me and my three boys were in the house at the time.
01:11I heard it, got the kids out the back
01:14and I got lovely neighbours next door to us.
01:16Their house obviously went up as well.
01:19But they got my children and myself over the wall.
01:22If they weren't there, I think I'd have had to probably,
01:25I'd have a broken leg or a broken arm off with the kids or myself.
01:28Yeah.
01:29But I'm grateful they was there.
01:31It was like phoning around getting my partner back and my sister-in-law back.
01:36To hear the voices over the phone, it was quite shocking.
01:41It was a struggle.
01:44But like you say, everybody has pulled together
01:48and I'm really grateful for what they've done.
01:51Do you want to...?
01:54Well, it's amazing how many people are out there.
01:57Not everybody's bad or anything.
02:00And they do contribute, either.
02:02So the way I look at it, there is some decent people out there
02:06and there's good and bad out there,
02:08but there's more good than really bad by the looks of it.
02:11I mean, you see all this stuff in the news
02:15about the deterioration of the community around Blakenham.
02:19But I think seeing the absolute lengths that people have gone to
02:23just to offer you anything that they can,
02:25I mean, that must affect you so much.
02:27Blakenham was a nice place when we first moved there,
02:29but somehow it's just changed.
02:31Changed in the last two years, actually.
02:33Two or three years, it seems to have gone even worse.
02:37It is, yeah.
02:39It's like what?
02:40People coming into Blakenham.
02:42Yeah, people coming in.
02:43Yeah, the people at the movie and all.
02:46I mean, the last time I looked at the Facebook comments,
02:51I think there was about 40 people on there,
02:53and then it obviously just skyrocketed from there.
02:55People offering, I mean, shoes.
02:57I mean, I believe someone's donated to television as well.
03:00I mean, not every day you get a TV donated to.
03:04We've had lots of pots and pans and bedding, you know.
03:07They have done wonders.
03:09Obviously it goes through all my sister-in-law.
03:13She goes there and collects it all up.
03:16It's an absolutely amazing job they've all done.
03:19Absolutely, yeah.
03:20It's shocking as well because I believe it was at your youngest birthday?
03:23On the day before.
03:24On the day before as well.
03:25Yeah, he'd just turned five.
03:27Yeah, I'm guessing he had most of his presents.
03:30All of his presents apart from one Spider-Man T-shirt.
03:32That's all he had left, and that's what his wedding was wearing.
03:36Have people been trying to donate?
03:38We've had so much Spider-Man stuff falling
03:40because he's obviously a little boy that doesn't like Spider-Man.
03:44He goes mad for it.
03:46But yeah, it's so overwhelming.
03:50I am really happy and pleased with what people have done.
03:54Has it sort of reinvigorated your sense of community with the area?
03:59Not yet.
04:00That is good out there, but as bad as rough.
04:04But there's more good than there is bad, I hope.
04:07I think that's what this shows, isn't it?
04:09When times get really tough and it's really trying,
04:13the amount of people that will actually come out and help out.
04:16You don't expect it though, do you?
04:18But then when it starts to come, it's quite heartbreaking
04:23that things like this can actually happen to some families.
04:27It's like, what do you expect?
04:29And then families do come, help.
04:34I tell you what, the street was full of people trying to help that day as well.
04:40I'm quite happy and pleased with what they've all put together.
04:42We'll move back there.
04:44I'll move back there, yeah.
04:46I'll get some builders or something from somewhere,
04:48or appeal to some builders and get some work done on the area.
04:52Well, it's a thing.
04:53I can fully imagine almost everybody on that street is going to be there
04:55to help you out as well.
04:56Yeah.
04:59So what's the sort of...
05:01Because you're staying in temporary accommodation now.
05:04We don't really need to know where it is.
05:07What's the living conditions now, obviously?
05:09Two bedrooms.
05:11One with a double bed in and one with two single beds in.
05:16It's not the best, but it's better than nothing.
05:19It's like I'm his full-time carer as well,
05:21so I have to run backwards and forwards through the night
05:23to make sure he's okay.
05:24It's a real problem, isn't it?
05:25Yeah.
05:26That's the way it's always been.
05:28I pay for that as well, so it's a real problem, yeah.
05:31Yeah.
05:32Well, I mean, it's helping at the end of the day.
05:34It's better than sleeping in a box.
05:36Oh, yeah.
05:38And just talking about the loss of the house from there,
05:41I mean, it's not just the items inside, it's obviously...
05:44Memories, because he's lived there a long time.
05:46It was his mum and dad's house.
05:47I've lived there...
05:4930-odd years?
05:5040.
05:5140 years, I have, yeah.
05:53But there's always been silly things going on around.
05:55Always.
05:57That's just...
05:58Yeah, because he's black, isn't he?
05:59Yeah.
06:00Which is a lot of...
06:01I mean, it's a lot of...
06:02You never think it's going to happen to you, but it does.
06:04Yeah.
06:05It's the thing.
06:06You never think that you're going to be a victim to something like this.
06:08No.
06:09But, like, when it does, it's completely shocking.
06:11Yeah, you don't realise now.
06:12You don't realise how devastating it is to what happens to yourself.
06:15It's like with, like, all your memories of your parents,
06:17your mum and dad, the photos that we have of them.
06:19We have literally lost a lot.
06:21Yeah.
06:22That's like, I mean, you can...
06:23Like with the appeal, you can get items back.
06:26Yeah, but the memories, you can't.
06:28You can't get memories back.
06:29You're not going to be able to get those back.
06:31There's certain things you can't replace.
06:34No, it's devastating.
06:35Kid's aches and things like that.
06:37Have the boys been handled?
06:38Because, obviously, they would have...
06:40They obviously saw a lot of it as well.
06:42Have they been handled?
06:43The two was outside at the time, but the oldest one, excuse me,
06:47he was there at the same time as I saw it all.
06:50But I managed to get the door shut away from it all and out.
06:55Pardon?
06:58You rolled his parents in it.
07:00It was amazing.
07:01I mean, like, you know, was it like a...
07:04As soon as you saw what happened,
07:05was it like a jump into action sort of thing?
07:07It was, yeah.
07:08Like, straight in.
07:09I literally grabbed him, pushed him out the way,
07:11shut my living room door and literally ran out the back door.
07:14I got back to the other door in the front room.
07:16I was straight on to the garden.
07:18And then the neighbours were there.
07:20My middle one, he shaded over for help off of them
07:23and they was there in literally seconds doing it all.
07:26It's amazing, isn't it?
07:27I mean, especially with...
07:28They must have been worried about their house.
07:30Oh, yeah. We don't even know our neighbours.
07:32No, we should get to know them.
07:34Yeah.
07:35It's nice to know it wasn't their first thought,
07:38it was, like, my house, let's get the kids out of there.
07:41Yeah.
07:42You know, help you as a parent.
07:43They did. I'll tell you, that was amazing.
07:45They were quickly responsible, the response they did to us.
07:48Yeah.
07:49And obviously, the things, like,
07:51the kids just come with what they had on.
07:53Nicklin had a T-shirt, nothing else on.
07:56My middle one, he had no shoes on.
07:59And he was, I think it was just shorts and shoes, wasn't it?
08:02Mm-hm.
08:03But it was, like, quite of a shock.
08:05Yeah. It's funny to imagine.
08:07Was there any sort of wider thanks
08:09that you'd like to put out to the community or anything?
08:11I'd like a great big thanks to everybody who's done everything for us.
08:15OK.
08:17Marion, especially, she's been an absolute superstar.
08:23I don't know where we would have actually been without any of you.
08:26So I really do appreciate and thank you ever so much.
08:29Absolutely.
08:30And obviously, we don't want to...
08:32You might not want to put out another appeal,
08:34but is there anything specifically that you do need,
08:36anything major that you do need that you can help with?
08:39Builders.
08:40Yes, a roof.
08:41Builders.
08:42Yeah.
08:43I know it sounds a bit cheek, but anybody out there
08:45can help us with builders.
08:47It's nice to know that even with terrible circumstances,
08:51you're still doing the sort of thing every now and then.
08:54If I died, I'd probably sit there and cry all day.
08:57I've got to stay strong.
08:59You can't change the situation, can you?
09:01You can't change it, you know what I mean?
09:03It's happened, it's happened. You can't change it.
09:05I mean, you've got your family still.
09:07I tell you what, I'm grateful for my sister,
09:09the way she's put stuff in everything.
09:11She's been amazing.
09:13I love one of your kids.
09:16That's fantastic. Thank you very much, too.
09:18No worries.
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