Charity steps in to help Ashington widow

Posted by The Journal on Mar 8, 09 11:10 AM in News

Forces charities carried out a big renovation project on the house of a serviceman's widow in Ashington.

Cynthia Morgan, 61, was left desperate after a botched repair job on her home which meant her kitchen was rotting away because of damp.

Cynthia Morgan from Ashington

Now - thanks to the intervention of the RAF Benevolent Fund and SSAFA Forces Help - she is ecstatic after having ÃÂ£15,000 worth of repair and improvement work carried out at her terraced house.

The charities were able to help because Cynthia's late husband Brian, who died in 1994, served for 12 years as an RAF dental technician. Cynthia was in the Army for five years and they met and got married while posted in Singapore.

Cynthia had suffered from damp problems in her kitchen and living room for several years and called a builder in about three years ago in a bid to put things right.

She paid him ÃÂ£2,200, but says the work carried out only made the problems worse, before he disappeared and evaded all her attempts to track him down.

"There was a smell of damp in the kitchen, my cupboards were rotten and I was told I had a serious damp problem, but didn't have the money, on my pension, to put it right. The problems were getting me down, I didn't know what to do.

"It was a nightmare and I was getting quite depressed."

While going through her husband's papers, Cynthia found a letter from the RAF Benevolent Fund saying to contact them if she ever needed help.

She said: "They put me in touch with SSAFA Forces Help in September last year and my local case worker, Lynne Salvage, sorted a builder out and got the money from the Benevolent Fund to pay for the work. They have been absolutely brilliant.

"I have had a new floor and ceiling in the kitchen, they have fixed the damp problem, put in new kitchen units, replastered the walls and redecorated throughout. The builders, JKM Building Services, have been fantastic and I am so grateful to SSAFA and the RAF Benevolent Fund."

Major Brian Finlayson, of the Northumberland branch of SSAFA Forces Help, said the damp problems plaguing Cynthia's home had been caused by faulty central heating pipework. They were made worse when she had a new boiler fitted some years ago.

He said: "She was faced with a desperate situation and was at panic stations when she made contact with us. Lynne Salvage secured ÃÂ£15,000 from the RAF Benevolent Fund to do the work and Mrs Morgan is now much happier," he added.

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