Cllr Bill Blenkinsopp with Sylvia & Husqvarna Manager Paul Coates
Aycliffe Manufacturers of Flymo machines, Husqvarna, last week came to the rescue of 81 year old Sylvia Snowball, a partially blind resident of St. Andrew’s Close, Aycliffe Village.
The company heard from local Councillor Bill Blenkinsopp that she was being denied help from her landlord to cut the 2½ foot high grass outside her bungalow and promptly deployed two men to do the work. It took three days to complete, using strimmers and powerful lawn mowers with 28 large bags of grass to take away.
Sylvia was delighted and could not thank Manager Paul Coates enough for his kind gesture. However she was absolutely overwhelmed when the company returned with a brand new robot lawn mower which will cut her grass in future.
Sedgefield Borough Homes had always cut her grass as she was disabled, but the new landlords “livin” have introduced new rules which places Sylvia outside the criteria as she has family living nearby who they say should keep her lawn tidy.
“When ‘livin’ took over the rented properties they promised nothing would change, but they have broken that promise” complained Sylvia.
“I do have family but do not want them responsible for cutting this large area of grass” said Sylvia a very independent lady despite her disability.
Counc Blenkinsopp is working hard to get “livin” to change their rules and has already had three similar cases involving elderly disabled people reversed. One is a double amputee who lives in Clarence Chare.and two others are aged 95. It appears there are many such cases and like Sylvia the problem is causing much stress among our elderly residents
STOP PRESS:
Peter Hughes of Biscop Crescent has just contacted Newton News. He is 82 and has also been refused grasscutting service by “livin”. He has a daughter. but she has a spinal condition and cannot cut grass!
