Worse than The Depression - says Maundy founder.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes, much of the stuff we were given was because it was unfashionable.
I never cared much for fashion in furniture...it was about comfort and functionality in my book, and of course not going into a debt that I could not afford.

But when we had a bit more financial stability much of the old stuff found its way onto the bonfires ....purely because nobody wanted the unfashionable stuff..... they would rather pay for stuff on the never never.

[maxthecollie]

I've lost count of the stuff we have thrown away and put on bonfires, never knowing that it could be worth something.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by maxthecollie

I've lost count of the stuff we have thrown away and put on bonfires, never knowing that it could be worth something.

Yep, done that too, Max.

[ToffeeGuy]

Originally Posted by garinda

For the past few weeks the Observer's featured articles about the charity Maundy Grange.

Dorothy McGregor, the founder, says so far this year they've given 534 food parcels.

She's quoted once again in this weekend's newspaper, saying that...

'For many people , life in Accrington in 2012 is worse than it was in The Depression.'

What utter drivel!

I've not heard of many people dying now, because they can't afford to call the out the doctor.

Nor have I seen many children in Accrington with nothing on their feet.

Unlike in the Great Depression we now have a Welfare State, with a generous array of social benefits.

People only go hungry now because of fecklessness.

I don't think she's a bad woman, just woefully naive. Though I would question the benefits she brings to the area.

It's not for nothing drug addicts are called users.

Her providing for them, some of which is sold to buy drugs, makes her a facilitator, in my book.

In response to her outlandish claim, that life in Accrington today is worse than The Depression, I'd love to ask St. Dorothy just one question.

Just how many registered smack-heads were there in Accrington, in the twenties, and thirties?

I'm guessing it wasn't many.

Does Dorothy remember the Great Depression? Growing up with rationing in the 50s was hard but we made do.

No doubt there are people living in comparative poverty but a few lessons in home economics alongside the food parcels may not go amiss.

I don't like to judge but the number of times I see families in supermarkets with a trolley stacked high with processed foods and ready meals, pizzas etc. Some of these families will no doubt be claiming benefits.

Times are hard for a lot of people but perhaps the food banks should also offer cooking lessons for some of the families as well. It is usually true that the most nutritious food are the cheapest. Tinned tomatoes, pasta, carrots, rice etc. All comparatively cheap. A few few simple staple foods which can make filling meals.

[lindsay ormerod]

I am in the odd position of having dealt with some of these "addicts" whilst working at a local pharmacy and have heard a couple of well respected pharmacists state that what Maundy Grange is doing actually undermines the hard work and effort of parole boards, Add-action team and pharmacists alike in trying to get these individuals back on track. They would come and collect their heroin substitute, take it outside, sell it on and then go up to "see Dorothy and tell her I've no money for gas", get £30 and buy the real thing instead....
The woman is either mentally impaired, sadly deluded or very naive if she thinks she is genuinely helping these folk.
Either give them food vouchers for stores that can only be used on food or go with them to Morrisons. And get a paypoint machine to top up their gas/electric cards instead of handing over what is essentially drug money. Rant over.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I have seen this selling of the heroin substitute outside the post office when I have been collecting Ma's pension...so I know this does go on. It is very hard to give to a charity when you know that it is being abused by addicts and alcoholics...especially when you know there are services in place to help these members of society.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Lindsay, I always thought that those on heroin substitute had to drink it there and then before they left the pharmacy.

[susie123]

Originally Posted by ToffeeGuy

Does Dorothy remember the Great Depression? Growing up with rationing in the 50s was hard but we made do.

No doubt there are people living in comparative poverty but a few lessons in home economics alongside the food parcels may not go amiss.

I don't like to judge but the number of times I see families in supermarkets with a trolley stacked high with processed foods and ready meals, pizzas etc. Some of these families will no doubt be claiming benefits.

Times are hard for a lot of people but perhaps the food banks should also offer cooking lessons for some of the families as well. It is usually true that the most nutritious food are the cheapest. Tinned tomatoes, pasta, carrots, rice etc. All comparatively cheap. A few few simple staple foods which can make filling meals.

I've just been watching a series on Channel 4 called Secret Eaters in which people who are obese say they have no idea why they are putting on weight. Their food diaries show they only eat three times a day.

Their homes are rigged up with cameras and a couple of private investigators follow their every move, showing that these people are actually stuffing their faces at every available opportunity without realising it - snacks, sweets, alcohol etc, thus consuming sometimes up to three times the calories that their food diaries show and that are healthy limits for their sex.

Most of the meals they consume are takeaways or processed foods and I just wonder how these families can afford to eat like this - I don't think any of them were on benefits, but nonetheless it must put a great strain on family budgets now to mention waistlines.

There's also a new series on BBC2 called The Men who Made us Fat about the ploys used by big business to get us to consume more calories in the form of fat, sugar etc. The first one last week was very interesting.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by susie123

Well some of my stuff is now worth quite a lot of money so it can't have been that tatty! Just out of fashion in those days - now more likely to be seen on the Antiques Roadshow.

Quite right.

Old stuff was built to last.

Very often it's modern stuff that's the tat, and designed to be binned after a couple of years. Which then forces you to buy more rubbish.

I furnished my first home with second-hand stuff people kindly gave me. I didn't have anything new at all, until a few years later when Mum bought me a washing machine. I was thrilled with what I was given, and it's still treasured.

I didn't ever have a new telly until two years ago.

I've posted before that a friend of a friend who was an asylum seeker, well he wasn't really, he was a Turkish liar pretending to be Kurdish, laughed at my television for being antiquated, though it worked perfectly well, even if it was third-hand.

As I said earlier, I don't think Dorothy McGregor is a bad person, but I do think she is misguided, and also foolish for saying the things she has, about local folk being worse off now, than in the Depression.

[lindsay ormerod]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Lindsay, I always thought that those on heroin substitute had to drink it there and then before they left the pharmacy.

Not so, it depends on the conditions attached to the prescription, if it 's "supervised" it has to be taken in front of the pharmacist, otherwise they can take the bottle/pill away with them.

[garinda]

Noticed today that the new charity shop in Church Street, until recently a 'real' business, had the Observer's blurb in the window, stating it was now acting as one of the drop-off points for donations to Maundy Grange, which the newspaper are promoting.

[lindsay ormerod]

I think the trouble is that no-one at council level has the "cojones" to confront St Dorothy about the blight she has brought on the town, for fear of upsetting the applecart. The Council has to be seen to be supporting "charities" even ones as badly run and obviously flawed as this one.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by lindsay ormerod

I think the trouble is that no-one at council level has the "cojones" to confront St Dorothy about the blight she has brought on the town, for fear of upsetting the applecart. The Council has to be seen to be supporting "charities" even ones as badly run and obviously flawed as this one.

We'll just have to hope one of them, of either gender, grows a pair of balls one day, and has the guts to say this isn't working, and is helping to destroy the town.

[garinda]

1. Maundy - 21 Abbey Street, Accrington, BB5 1EN.


2.Maundy - 3 Abbey Street, Accrington, BB5 1EN.


3. Maundy Relief Key Scheme - 33-38 Abbey Street, Accrington, BB5 1EB.


4. Maundy Relief Trust - 29 Abbey St, Accrington, BB5 1EN.


5. Maundy Relief Warehouse - Junction 7 GEC Bsns Pk, BB5 5JW.


Maundy in Accrington - Business Name - The Phone Book from BT

[shillelagh]

i stay away from abbey street ... the only time i go along there is on the bus going home ....