Prior to retirement, Neil had worked for almost thirty years in a very specialist area of the print industry, making handmade paper for artists. His business produced paper with the reputation of being amongst the best watercolour papers in the world.
“Making paper is physically very hard work,” Neil explains. “It was taking its toll – in retrospect, I was working too long, and for too many hours, coupled with surgery I needed being delayed due to covid.”
A combination of events leading to crisis
For Neil, unexpected ill-health, being without a permanent place to live where he could rest and recuperate, and a family crisis led to his decision to contact the Printing Charity.
“When you’re ill for a period and you can’t work, you draw down the savings you have, and the pensions you have. I was making the best of it, but then the family crisis came along which meant that I needed to travel, and I realised I simply did not have the money to be able to manage it all,” he says.
“My previous boss explained that he receives e-mails from the Printing Charity, and told me about you, but I wouldn’t have got in touch if it hadn’t been for the situation with my family. By the time I did, I was in real crisis, struggling financially and not gaining any support from any other areas.
“If you’ve worked all your life, you’re not au fait with how to obtain financial support, then dealing with my health problems knocked me off my feet. When the family crisis came along, I suddenly thought, I’m trying to juggle all this but I really do need some help. I really appreciated talking to the charity team, just the fact that they were listening. You were a very sympathetic ear.”
Treated with dignity and kindness
The process of applying for financial support was made more straightforward for Neil through good communication, before, during and after the application process. Gaining access to financial support means that he now has something coming in regularly.
He explains: “The money sustains me, and enables me to help my family. I felt really helped, and continue to feel helped by it. What promised were made were followed through, and I was treated with real dignity and kindness. As soon as you could help, you did.”
“Get in touch as soon as you can”
Neil is eager to ensure that other people considering whether or not to contact the charity should act sooner rather than later.
“Get in touch as soon as you can,” he urges. “It’s hard for people who’ve sustained themselves their whole life to realise when they must reach out for help, but I believe that if I’d made contact with the charity sooner, you could have helped me sooner, and I could possibly have avoided being in intolerable crisis.”
As Neil found, once he started the conversation, people were able to help him and ease the challenges he was facing. Don’t wait until your situation feels intolerable: please get in touch with our team to talk. E-mail support@theprintingcharity.org.uk or call 01293 542 820.