Meet Liz Kieran, finding contribution
Making a new life in Sheffield
Our friend Liz Buchanan met with Liz Kieran, to hear about her journey from survivor of domestic violence to making a new life and a new home here in Sheffield.
I was fleeing domestic violence when I moved to Sheffield, with three children. I'd always wanted to move here and I found a place. I met a lot of people on the social pages, just started talking to people. I even met my best friend through Facebook.
I met a guy from a Sheffield Forum singles thread and later we met up at one of the socials. On our first proper date, he stayed the night and never left. He said his washing machine had broken down! Gav's been a fantastic stepfather to my boys, instilling a sense of responsibility and a work ethic. I was renting when we met and he was paying a mortgage, but ten years ago we all moved in together in Woodseats. I love Woodseats. It's a township all of its own.
I did an access to nursing course in 2009; I even had an offer of a place to study in Nottingham. But then I had a stroke which meant that I wasn't able to take it up. Gav became my full-time carer for a while, but eventually he was able to go back to work. There's only so much Netflix you can watch, so when I could, I started to volunteer.
My great-gran had passed away in her nineties, before Covid. But I knew when Covid hit that if she'd still been living on her own, I'd have wanted someone to help her. I started posting slips through people's doors, saying if you need anything, just give me a ring. A few people were like, 'Can you pick up prescriptions?'
A Watts-App group for the street followed that. I set it up and we still use it. One of my neighbours had a baby on Friday and it was lovely to hear about that. If people have things for sale, they offer them there first. We sell stuff and we ask advice. Have you got this, can I borrow that, does anyone know a gardener or an electrician. That sort of thing.
I started at St. Luke's Hospice shop in July last year. I wanted to do something else useful with my time. Gav's Gran was treated by St Luke's hospice and it was my favourite charity shop on Woodseats, so I just went in and asked if they were looking for volunteers. They're always looking for volunteers.
All sorts of people work here; we get a good mix of older and younger. We get a lot of students. There is someone who got placed through the job centre. Most people tend to have set jobs but some people can do anything. They are also very inclusive. I've got a chronic pain condition and chronic fatigue and I also get fibro-fog. Things go fuzzy sometimes, so I can only do short stints. I wanted to get involved in something that I could do on my own terms and they're very accommodating: I work two afternoons a week and it's flexible.
I started by sorting donations. You'd get bags in and work through them; price them, sort them into boxes or hang up clothes for steaming. Then in August they started taking electrical items and were asking for people to be trained as PAT testers. I thought 'why not?' It's another skill, isn't it? I can work hours to suit myself.
When we get an electrical item, we check all the wiring, that there's no snags or breaks. We check the plug, that it's not loose, that it's the correct fuse and not blown. We put it all back together and make sure it works. The PAT testing machine is actually a little black box that does two tests. It checks the strength of the current going through and for any leakage. It'll go green or red to let you know whether the item has passed or failed. If it's failed it gets a red sticker and gets scrapped. If it passes, it gets a green sticker and a year's date: things have to be tested every year. It has my signature and how much AMP the fuse is on, usually three or thirteen.
We take anything up to microwave size, from hand blenders to hair dryers, TVs, computer monitors, games consoles. Ice-cream makers, pop-corn makers, baby items like bottle-warmers and monitors. It changes every day. We might end up ragging a third of that, because they fail the test, or people have donated things that are broken. We leave things out on the shop-floor for a fortnight. Whatever's not sold gets sent to another shop. It turns out that electrical items sell very well; they're a reasonable chunk of our income.
St. Lukes is a lovely charity to work for. I don't think I could have picked a better group of people. It really is like having a second family. The staff are friendly the volunteers are friendly; if you're not sure about something then someone else always knows the answer. That people want to be there, rather than being paid to there, obviously makes a big difference.
The shop celebrated its 21st birthday last week and some people have been there from the start. People who volunteer do tend to stay. For the whole birthday week there were cakes patries, chocolate biscuits, refreshments and even fruit.
We get a lot of random requests. People will nip their heads round the corner looking for a shoe-stretcher, or a men's shirt in a particular size, or something to match a particular outfit. When it's Prom Season we get really popular.
I actually got my wedding dress from here. It had never been worn. I feel sad about that but I know that some people buy more than one, so I hope that's what happened. It was huge: a great big princess dress. As I was getting married for a second time, I wanted to do it 'properly'.
Thanks Liz, for giving us this insight - it’s inspiring to hear how Liz found her way from an abusive relationship to building a new life for herself in Sheffield and serving her community.
If you know an inspiring and creative Sheffielder you’d like to hear in conversation, please introduce us to them, we hope to bring many new stories to you in future editions.
Cafe Meetups continuing
Today we met at the Forge Dam Cafe for two hours of “wonderful, diverse conversation” as described by Sandy Brown, who along with her husband Gordon joined myself, Lynda Ashmore and Niloofar Farzanfar for a coffee and a chat.
These meetups are honestly amazing - we’re making such beautiful friendships as we go along… I can’t wait to see them expand to every part of Sheffield!
Be sure to tick the locations you could reach for future meetups and I’ll send you invites as we agree a time and day to suit.