EDITOR'S VIEW: Meeting the whirlwind blowing good across South Tyneside communities
Hebburn Helps is changing lives in the community as Gazette editor Richard Ord discovered in conversation with the charity’s founder Angie Comerford.
A bustling shop front with people laden with goods piling in and out… it had all the hallmarks of a successful high street venture.
In this case, however, it was the food bank charity Hebburn Helps in the town’s Mountbatten shopping centre which was drawing the crowds.
When I popped in to meet up with the organisation’s founder Angie Comerford, the venue was the busiest in what looked like a quiet day at the centre. The fact that the biggest buzz in the centre came from the food bank said plenty about the state of the community. The cost of living crisis is taking its toll.
That said, it was a huge pleasure to meet up with the one-woman whirlwind that is Angie Comerford.
The founder of the charity organisation is clearly a person who meets life head on at 100mph, even when life can be coming back at her at twice the speed.
What was meant to be a 15-minute catch up turned into an hour-long conversation in which the selfless Angie was focused entirely on the plight of the community’s most vulnerable - the people she puts front and centre every day, often at great personal cost.
As I probed about how she manages to cope with her incredible workload, she said: ‘Oh, don’t worry, I always factor at least two breakdowns into the year.’
She was smiling, but she wasn’t joking.
Food banks like the one Angie runs are no longer a short-term fix for a temporary problem, but an accepted norm. And that can’t be right.
It feels odd wishing that Angie’s business was not the busy hive of activity I witnessed.
No community should rely on a food bank to be its busiest shopfront. But until that changes, people like Angie remain the difference between struggling and coping for many who walk through those doors. We need more like her…
Tears for a clown ...
It was sad to report the death of South Shields panto star Bob Stott, who devoted much of his life to bringing laughter to South Tyneside.
Most will remember him treading the boards as Dame Dotty with his on-stage partner in crime Ray Spencer.
As should be with people who have lived a rich and full life, it’s right to mourn their passing but rejoice in the joy they have brought to so many people.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time, but it was also heart-warming to report the outpouring of love from the public towards Bob. What made Bob special was the connection he had with his audience
I laughed out loud when I read one tribute from a reader. They said they remembered seeing Bob at the Westovians when his sidekick Ray disappeared though the trap door in the flooring. Without missing a beat, Bob bellowed: ‘Don’t worry, it’s just a stage he’s going through.’
Rest in peace Bob.