A fantastic poem by Eileen, one of our contributors.
The Suit
Happy birthday she said as I ripped opened the bag…
My heart beating faster and faster as I’m peeling back the layers…
Ooh…I can see something…peeking out in the corner…
With one last pull the paper let’s go of its goodies…WOW…
I say as it lies before me…
What is it mum? I say…
Hold it up and you will see…
My hands touch the beige-coloured fabric…
Ooh… it’s so, so soft to the touch…
As I hold it up a piece falls down…
Mmm…. I say,
hold it up against you then…
Taking it out of my hands mum holds it up against my body…
Oh yes …looks lovely…
Now try the trousers on….
I put one leg in then the other and as my mum pulls me into them, I feel the soft silk lining touching my young skin…
It’s beautiful mum I shout…
Have a look then…have a look…
I head over the mirror with such anticipation for what I’m about to see…
I squeal…
There I stand in all my glory in my new beige camel coloured suit…
Soft to the touch and so, so elegant…
It’s the most loveliest thing I’ve ever seen…
Now look after it, she shouts…
Cost a lot of money…
OK mum, I reply still staring in the mirror…
Well…take it off now…
Go and hang it up, she says…
OK mum…
I slept well that night…
Happy I’d got a lovely suit for my party…
As the weekend comes…
I’m so looking forward to playing in the streets below…
I hear my mum call…
Eileen…
Take this to the pawn shop for me will ya…
All wrapped up in brown paper…
Mum…is this my suit …is it my suit…
Tears well up in my eyes as she nods her head …
Only this once …only this once…
promise…
the pain I felt on that long journey down to the pawn shop can never be explained…
tears running down my face as I hand it over to the man with the glasses on in exchange for the coins, he drops into my open hand…
It went on that journey often my suit…
And every-time the tears would flow…
Didn’t fit me when I finally got it back…
Ahh well, mum said …may as well take it back to the pawn man and get a bob or two ehh….
A tear drops onto my cheek…
You can discover more creative pieces from people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
Someone we work with, Grant, is a keen and very skilled photographer. But his camera was holding him back: it was not good enough to let him use his talent to the full. We were able to help.
Grant first got interested in photography a long time ago – back when people still used camera film. After a while, he got out of the habit. “I just did snaps here and there with my phone. Then, about 10 years ago, my girlfriend at the time got me a new camera.”
Things went from there. Grant then bought a camera, a Canon 100D, that one of his friends was selling. It was almost brand new, and Grant started doing wildlife photography again. Grant explains, “the challenge is just to get an image, because most animals move so fast. You’ve got to find ways to try to work with them.”
Above: Juvenile Kestrels “These young kestrels were part of a brood that I had the privilege of watching from being chicks to fledging the nest. (In the interests of transparency I should say that in the original image the sky had washed out, so while editing on Photoshop I had used the sky replacement function.)”
Grant started by going to his local park and taking photos of the birds there. The park was the perfect place for this. It had lots of different wildlife, with the coast at one end and a woodland area at the other.
Grant found that the patient and slow nature of wildlife photography was enjoyable and of great benefit too. “Photographing wildlife, it really slows you down. Because if you’re jumping about and being noisy… they won’t come up. You’ve got to take maybe 20 minutes just to sit still… then you start to hear the noises of them rustling about – and then you start to sense the movement of them, you won’t actually see them yet.”
“And then after a while they get to trust you, and see that you’re no threat. Then they’ll start showing themselves. And now that I’ve been going to the same spot for about 2 years, animals will come up to me quite readily. I take things with me like bird food, bags of nuts for the squirrels and stuff like that, so they are quite happy. You learn a lot about animal behaviour.”
Above: Wren on a branch. “This is probably the clearest image I have of a wren, one of the UK’s smallest birds. They are incredibly skittish and devilishly fast.”
Above: Ravenscraig Castle at sunset
When Grant first started working with Future Pathways, one of the things he talked about with his Support Coordinator was his love for photography. He wanted to get better at it but the camera he had was too basic. This is when his Support Coordinator said Future Pathways could help.
Grant made a list of what he needed and got everything second-hand which saved a lot of money. He was now able to do much more and in many different light conditions.
As you can see, Grant has taken some amazing photos, and he clearly loves the process as much as other people love the results. “One of the most amazing experiences I’ve had was at a spot I know where kestrels go every year. About 2 years ago, I was there and a kestrel was sat in a tree quite far away. And the next thing, he flew to a tree about 20 feet from me. It literally just sat there and watched me, checking me out for a good 5 minutes. Enough time to go and get my camera set up and take an image right close up.” (The photo Grant took is below.)
Above: Kestrel. “This kestrel flew onto the tree closest to me and watched me for a few minutes.”
And it seems that Grant’s love for photography may be passing down to his kids. Grant sometimes takes his daughter out with him. She uses his old camera to learn. Grant told us that this has been an added benefit of Future Pathways’ help that he did not expect. “It has helped my daughter and me build on our relationship, by giving us a shared interest.”
Above: “A ‘macro shot’ from a day spent shooting insects and flowers.”
“It is a great experience. Everyone’s got their life stresses, and then I’ve got other mental health issues that I’ve got to deal with. When I go out with my camera, for that couple of hours I’m not thinking about any of that. What I’m concentrating on is the location I’m going to, what’s the light like, what kit am I going to use, what shutter speeds am I going to use, how am I going to set the camera up? I find that it takes my mind right away: just for a couple of hours, I have no worries.”
Above: A robin in the sun. “It was the end of the day and I was about to pack my equipment away when I noticed this wee fella. Next to kestrels, robins are my favourite birds. They are so full of attitude, curious, and furiously defensive of their territory. But once they get used to your presence they will happily stay about you.”
Check out another fantastic photograph by one of the people we support in the Sunrise photograph here.
You can view more creative pieces from the people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
“Being thankful for a new day with a stunning sunrise.”
by Joanna Muir
You can view more creative pieces from the people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
Fly On, a wonderful poem written by Eileen, one of our contributors.
You can discover more creative pieces from people we support in our Arts and Crafts Winter Showcase.
Creativity can be a great way to boost your mood, relax, focus or feel confident.
We have a dedicated online Arts and Craft Winter Showcase featuring fantastic pieces from the people we support.
Check out their wonderful creations below. For groups of images, click on each one to view it at a larger size.
Chris’ drawings
“I’ve been drawing since I was a child and I find drawing therapeutic. I do drawings for people to do something nice and make them smile.”
Alanis’ creations
“I have been creating for the last 6-7 months. It keeps me occupied and it is good for the brain.”
William’s photography
“Photography gives me a sense of purpose which helps me structure my spare time in a way that brings me a lot of enjoyment as well as providing a focus which is particularly important since I have retired from work.”
David’s paintings
“With over 30 years’ experience, my speciality is the painting of portraits although my work covers a variety of subjects including landscapes, animals, pets and still life. I work predominantly in oils and acrylics, but also create graphite portraits and drawings. I aim to make my landscapes colourful and realistic, reflecting my point of view and feeling for my surroundings.”
Wickerman’s candles, soaps and wax melts
“I love my craft as it keeps me grounded on a day to day basis.”
Derek’s portraits
“These pictures are done with paint on canvas. They were a lockdown project with the canvases provided by Future Pathways. During Covid lockdown I was really not able to go outside at all and art really helped me through that period. The pictures are now on display in Candleriggs gallery, Main Street, Alloa. Elton is my hero with Freddie and Debbie having played a part in my life as well.”
Fiona’s artwork
“The painting is inspired by Japanese Art and the mosaic is inspired by Egyptian art. I’ve loved art for as long as I can remember and try and empower other women, through art, and implement self-development.”
Eileen’s artwork
”Although it’s been a while since I have done any artwork, I particularly get creative when my mental wellbeing is down or I’m feeling overwhelmed. It calms me and gives me a distraction. I can express my feelings outward into my art in an expressive way. I’m not by any means Van Gogh, but having the confidence to share it with others is a big thing. I have learned along the way to accept it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s mine.”
Lauchlan’s paintings
”I was in and out of care homes from early childhood, which probably put me on a wayward path in my teenage years and adulthood. I started painting in 1997 at the age of 47 I was incarcerated in a Chinese prison from 1991 until December 2003 for possession of cannabis resin. Teaching myself to paint was a great escape from the harsh reality of prison life in a communist country. I loved painting landscapes wandering into the fantasy world over mountains and feeling sand through my toes on white sand beaches. I eventually started doing Still Life and abstract. I appreciate the opportunity that Future Pathways give to its clients to share their art.”
If you’d like your own work to be featured on our website, email us at engagement@future-pathways.co.uk
Shona, who Future Pathways has been supporting, recently completed a 300-mile walk from Yorkshire to Edinburgh to raise funds for the charity Steps to Hope. It wasn’t easy – she had to overcome some tough challenges, both mental and physical. Here’s her story.
Shona works as a mental health practitioner and a counsellor. Last year she decided that she wanted to help the charity Steps to Hope, whose work to help people suffering from homelessness and addiction is very close to her heart. So what’s the best way to help a charity called Steps to Hope? Walking, of course!
Shona decided to do a sponsored walk from Yorkshire to the school where she works. She organised it all herself and did the walk without any support team apart from her dog, Milo, for the last few days. She carried her tent and all her other equipment herself, in a rucksack that weighed about 15kg – that’s about as heavy as an average three-year-old child.
Shona describes the route: “I started at Helmsley, in North Yorkshire. I then followed the Cleveland Way until I got to Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast of England. And then from there I walked to Edinburgh. The route should have been 300 miles exactly, although I went off track a few times so I ended up doing 314 miles.”
View of the beach during Shona’s walk from Yorkshire to Edinburgh
Although Shona has always enjoyed going for walks, and had found it very helpful for her mental health, the idea of doing a 300-mile walk was very daunting. Shona says: “I would never have done a walk at all without all the counselling I’ve had through Future Pathways. I’ve been involved with them for about three and a half years and they’ve helped me massively. Last year my brother died, and I really wanted to do something in his memory. I just thought, ‘I’m going to push myself, I’m going to go and do it’.” Her target was to raise £2,000.”
Shona put a lot of work into training so that she was ready to tackle the walk. “I trained for six months. I’m 55 – it’s not like I’m a spring chicken – and also I broke my leg a few years ago. I would walk home from school carrying a full-weight pack: it’s nine miles from the school to my house. In the end, I decided that the only way to find out if I was fit enough to do the walk was to actually try to do it.”
‘The walk definitely did push my boundaries but it was amazing.’
Shona started her walk in July this year. The plan was to take about two weeks to do the whole trip. In the end it took a bit longer, because – to put it mildly – Shona had to overcome some challenges along the way. On the second night, Shona’s tent was destroyed. “The winds were so wild up on the moors, and it was raining really hard so my tent was absolutely saturated, and a huge big rip went in the back of it. After that I stayed in B&Bs and hostels, but for the second bit of the walk after Berwick I camped the whole way.”
The second bit? “Yes, near Berwick I slipped and fell on an overgrown trail. I caught my foot in some roots, tripped and split my head open and fractured my eye socket. The damage was worse because my pack was so heavy. The doctors said I had to stop, so I stopped for twelve days. And as soon as they gave me the go-ahead to go back, I went back and finished the walk. I didn’t start at the exact point where I’d fallen, so at a later point I did one trail three times to make up the miles.”
Shona celebrating the end of her 300-mile walk.
Shona finished her walk on Sunday 14 August. She has reached her fundraising target of £2,000.
As you’d expect, Shona is delighted to have raised so much money for the Steps for Hope charity, and says that she found the experience personally rewarding too. “I ended up seeing incredible sights. I saw wild dolphins near me while I was swimming in the sea. I sat on remote beaches where Arctic Terns, thousands of them, were nesting on the rocks, and I sat and just watched them for hours. I also meet some really lovely people.”
“The walk definitely did push my boundaries, but it was amazing. And I couldn’t have done it without Future Pathways. They paid for my travel to Yorkshire, and my tent, my hostels after that was destroyed, and then a replacement tent for the second part of the walk after my fall.”
Shona deserves all the credit for her achievement. And it wasn’t easy. “It challenged me physically, even with the amount of training that I did, because your body is not used to getting up every day and doing that amount of walking every single day. But the counsellor I have is amazing. She said, ‘You can totally do this.’
“The first week was my worst week, thinking: ‘I’m so anxious about being out of my comfort zone, about being in an unfamiliar space, being isolated.’ But I remembered that actually I just needed to keep on putting one foot in front of the other. And at the age of 55, to finish 300 miles, I actually think that’s pretty amazing.”
The fundraising is still going if you’d like to make a contribution: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Shona-Mcinally
During lockdown, you have been sharing your thoughts about the pandemic with Future Pathways. Vicky has asked us to share her poem about it with you:
The world is fighting a war – you could say, it is world war three. But this battle has no exploding bombs, soldiers firing guns, grenades being thrown, or missiles being fired into the air. The enemy is silent, deadly, and invisible, we all have to take care.
There are no air raid sirens, warning us that danger is near. But with every day that passes, the death toll continues growing, and that fills us all with fear.
This war is not a conflict between different countries, it’s a fight to save people’s lives from a deadly virus named Covid-19. The best defence is to stay in your house and keep your hands clean.
We have thousands of troops from medical teams, emergency services, food suppliers, distributors, politicians and volunteers.
They are fighting round the clock to keep us safe and well, how long this will last, only time will tell.
In these times of uncertainty there is one thing for sure – we will have hard and sad times, highs and lows. But we must stand together, take the good with the bad, play the game, fight the fight, and one day soon, everything will be alright.
How do you feel about life under lockdown? One of the people supported by Future Pathways shared his thoughts with us:
“I’m amazed at how little this pandemic has impacted my life. In the beginning, the very word “pandemic ” brought fear surging into my life but as time went on, I find no fear.
“Many around me are living in fear.
“You can see it in their eyes. They move off of the pavements to avoid people. Masks of fear on everyone’s faces.
“Rubber gloves, hand sanitizer, wash, wash, washing of hands.
“Watching every sound byte, every news update. Feeding the fear with every word Boris Johnson utters.
“Hold on, this is my world of fear.
“I’m the one so used to living in perpetual fear.
“I avoid social contact.
“I avoid people.
“The world has become confusing.
“It’s turned upside down overnight.
“I’ve lived with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, social phobia, that fear of sudden death most of my life.
“Now the rest of the world is getting a taste of my day to day life.
“My normal, wasn’t normal.
“This life we are all living just now, doesn’t feel normal but strangely I fit in to it.
“Except, I don’t have their fears.
“I like that there are less people on the streets.
“I like that pubs are closed.
“I like that shops are not busy.
“Part of me wants it to stay like this.
“It’s quieter
“I’m not on high alert.
“I think of putting in more self-care during this time.
“Working on all the issues that have pushed me down.
“It seems like the perfect time.
“Maybe others will be reflecting on their own life situation.
“I wonder what good will come from all of this?”
Joyce Fox
Joyce Fox, one of our survivors, has shared her story about her journey with Future Pathways in the Dundee Courier. Read all about it here – https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/angus-mearns/563708/angus-abuse-survivor-shares-story-save-others/
Davie Garrity, 69, from Glenrothes
A Fife man who was taken into care as a baby is celebrating after seeing photos of his beloved mum for the first time.
Davie Garrity, 69, from Glenrothes, launched a public appeal for help in his bid to see pictures of the mother he never saw again after entering the care system at the age of 14 months.
And now, with help and support in his appeal from Future Pathways, Scotland’s in-care survivor support project, family members have now come forward with a wealth of photos for Davie to treasure.
Davie, who had a negative experience in the care system, was told from a very early age that he was abandoned by his mum, who’d given him up to the care system to look after. But it was only after tracking down his care records a few years ago he discovered that his mum had not abandoned him at birth, but had looked after him until he was 14 months old, and that it was only following a period of very ill health for Davie, that the single mum took the heart-breaking decision to put him into care.
After leaving care in his late teens, Davie moved forward with his life, pushing his experiences to the back of his mind and it was a chance encounter on the golf course with someone he used to be in care with, that brought all the memories of the past flooding back.
Keen to find out more about his roots, Davie applied for copies of his care records and was both delighted and devastated to find out his mum had also made several attempts to visit him in care and get access to him, but these had all been denied.
He started to look for his mum but received the sad news that she had passed away in 1978. His next step was to find out what she looked like, and the search for photos began.
Davie said: “I never thought that I would see this day, I am so happy. Seeing what my mum looked like has been a dream come true. There are even photos of us together, which is amazing. Thanks to everyone who has helped to make this possible for me.”
Head of Future Pathways, Flora Henderson, said: “I am absolutely over the moon for Davie, this is a wonderful, heart-warming story and I am so pleased that Future Pathways has been able to help him to reach his goal.
“We aim to provide tailored support to help survivors of abuse or neglect lead full, healthy and independent lives. Although over 600 survivors have already registered with us, we know there are many, many more people out there who have had similar experiences and who could really benefit from our help and support.
“Please get in touch if you feel that we can help you or someone you know.”