As a child growing up,your existence is so centred on your family home,with both your parents and siblings around. We were suddenly pulled out of that. It was unfamiliar,it was uncertain.
I don’t remember being scared day to day because I had Mum there. But I was quite worried about what the future might hold and how different my circumstances were (I thought but didn’t really know) to those around me at school. Those feelings of dislocation,apprehension and isolation mean you feel embarrassed about your circumstances. I remember that keenly.
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As I have recently told this story,friends who’ve known me for 40-odd years have said:“I never knew that about you.” I don’t speak about it very often and I never spoke about it at school. Because that would be another thing to mark me out as different. The only thing you really want to do at school is fit in.
Mum was lucky;she had a family able to provide some of the support she needed. Vinnies was able to help out with financial counselling,clothes and everyday essentials. I think most of my casual wardrobe was provided by Vinnies for a couple of years,as was almost every piece of our furniture,crockery and homewares.
The experience I had of the support was indirect – it was provided to my mother to help her care for me. So Vinnies was a godfather-like presence in my early life and,I think,it’s different to people who describe a more direct experience of being helped.
However,Vinnies gave us a hand at a time we really needed it and that enabled a whole bunch of choices that wouldn’t have been available had that assistance not been provided. It enabled Mum to give me an education,which created so many options. I often think of that when I see a Vinnies Shop today.