Recently, we helped out an NHS key worker out of a particularly difficult situation – for free. She was so delighted, she burst into tears.
NHS worker Bev Rishworth had not been enjoying the best of years. The coronavirus pandemic saw her shielding at her Woodseats home for months, then an operation on her wrist meant she had to self-isolate for a further two weeks. A flooded bathroom affected other parts of her house and then, to cap it all off, issues with her gas supply and an ancient boiler saw her having to manage for several months without heating, hot water and her cooker.
Bev couldn’t afford a new boiler and, due to technicalities in the Government’s Eco Scheme requirements, she didn’t qualify for financial assistance. Contemplating the colder months ahead, Bev was on the verge of taking the risk of buying a second-hand boiler and trying to find someone to install it for her. But that was where 1st Call Gas came in and provided Bev with the first piece of good news she had heard in a long while.
When Dave Turner, Director of 1st Call Gas, heard of her plight, he was moved by what a difficult situation Bev – who works at the Northern General Hospital’s Dialysis Unit – had found herself in. “She was really struggling because her old boiler was inefficient and completely caput,” explained Dave. “Our business has been doing very well, so we decided that this was an opportunity for us to give a bit back by helping a deserving member of the local community by installing her an efficient new boiler for free.
“Our friends at plumbers’ merchants Plumco said they would give us all the pipes and fittings and we provided the boiler and all the necessary labour. “Bev was in a situation where she could have been sat here for years without a boiler in her house, so we are delighted we have been able to help.” Meanwhile, the team members at Plumco were also keen to assist.
Said the company’s Mitch Hicks: “1st Call Gas have been good customers of ours for many years and when Dave came to see us to explain the situation, we were glad to be able to help.” Bev was overwhelmed by the suggestion and explained: “I seriously didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how I was going to manage. “A hospital matron I work with had recommended that I should talk to 1st Call Gas and I knew that if a company had pleased her with the work they had done, then they had just got to be good. “But when they heard what a particularly difficult situation I had found myself in, and they told me they would install a new boiler for me for free, I felt they had saved my life.
I just burst into tears. “They have gone above and beyond in helping me; I just didn’t expect anything like this. “Dave has been fantastic and everyone involved has been just great. I can’t thank them enough.”
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