Salute to the unsung heroes

William Hosie talks to a carer forced to feed her family on just £11 a day and discovers a charity that's become a lifeline

AMELDA, a mother of three, spends sleepless nights on a chair in her kitchen. She has given over her bed to her 16-year-old daughter, Amelia, while her sons Kevin and David, 24 and 19, sleep by a gaping hole in the ceiling of their council flat. It has been months since her local council promised to fix it.

As winter begins and temperatures plummet, the ceiling remains damaged and their home freezing cold. Amelda, 56, said her utility bills are already “humungous”.

“You don’t want to think about it,” she added and began to cry. “It’s very emotional. Really bad. I don’t want my children to get ill.”

Amelda cares full-time for both her sons but is herself in poor health, with a spine disorder and diabetes.

Her overcrowded housing situation has only made things worse. “My back hurts, my feet ache, sometimes I sit up at night with panic attacks and I can’t breathe,” she said.

“I have to punch my knees out to stretch them and go to the bathroom. Sometimes I have an accident because I can’t get there in time.”