Today I went to the home of Lynne McMylor and her husband Trevor at their home in Mottram. Now at first glance you would see a nice, everyday, retired couple. When you discover the amount this lady does with the relentless support of Trevor I think you would feel as inspired and humbled as I did.
In 2014 Lynne was watching the Sport Relief telethon who do a massive amount for good causes around the country and across the world. During the program there was a piece about children in poverty in this country. This caused her to look deeper into the child poverty rates in our area and what she discovered sparked her into action and the foundations of what has blossomed very quickly into a local project on a scale that even she didn’t expect.
Lynne’s first step into helping local, vulnerable families was to go to the neo-natal unit at Tameside Hospital. Her time would be spent knitting as many clothes as she could for premature babies and take them directly to the maternity hospital where they could be passed on to mothers who didn’t have the necessary clothes. During her visits to the hospital and the conversations she had with staff while she was there she discovered just how many vulnerable families there are in Tameside alone.
Lynne was still not happy. She felt there must be more that people can do for these children and their parents so she wrote a letter to ask local GP’s if there was a need in the area for clothing and basic equipment. She then hand delivered 66 copies of that letter to doctors across the borough. Again this highlighted the massive demand there was for some kind of service to help to ensure that babies first years were safe, warm and comfortable.
A nurse in one of the surgeries contacted Lynne to point her in the direction of a lady in Surrey that had gone down a similar path to help people in her area. She had a small charity set up that helped to distribute equipment directly to those who needed it. This was the inspiration Lynne needed to take her next step in her quest to help families who shouldn’t suffer the way they do in the 21st century.
A simple appeal was put out to her friends and family to donate any baby clothes, books, toys and nursery equipment so they could then be passed onto those who were starting family life with very little or even nothing. She would then contact local healthcare professionals to ask them where the equipment she collected would be most needed. The ball was rolling! In fact the ball was rolling at massive speed. Today Cascade Baby Bundles is supplying many families every week with vital equipment. Not just clothes and toys but larger items such as prams, cots and nursery furniture. Everything a baby would need to have as good a start in life as possible.
The success of Cascade Baby Bundles does, however, cause a few problems for Lynne and her family. Problems that have been noticeable from the minute i walked into their house.
On the patio, before you even get into the house properly there are three prams that Lynne has to manoeuvre just for me to get in the front door. We then go into the lounge where I meet Trevor who is sat on an armchair. As I go to shake his hand my attention is immediately drawn to the piles of toys, clothes and baby equipment that are behind him in the dining room. You can literally hardly move. I then look further in and notice a lovely conservatory. Again full to bursting. As we sit down and look towards the television in the lounge there are bags laid two or three deep on the floor which you would have to step over just to turn the set on to watch Coronation Street. The entire house is taken over by the amazing generosity of people in the local area who have heard about Cascade and want to help out.
I asked Lynne just how much equipment she actually has. She told me that her house is pretty much full. Any spare space is taken up. Not only that but then there’s her mothers house. Vera Bayley is 84 and Lynnes mum. Vera also lives with the results of Cascades very fast growth and success. 3 bedrooms and two other rooms in her house are completely taken up by storing equipment ready to process, wash and distribute the goods donated by our kind hearted SHMD residents and those in the surrounding area. On top of that there are a further 5 storage areas dotted around the place.
Cascade Baby Bundles now get referrals from healthcare professionals on a daily basis. When I say daily, I mean daily. Even Sundays. In all this retired couple put all their spare time and energy into making sure vulnerable families are provided with the basic needs to bring a child into the home. Lynne herself dedicates up to 15 hours a day, 7 days a week into every aspect of it. From washing and ironing donated clothes to driving round the storage locations to collect requested equipment to compile the bundles then meet the healthcare workers back at her house to hand them over. All this is done anonymously. She never meets the families and the families have never yet got to know the amazing people behind Cascade Baby Bundles. Not an ounce of thanks, gratitude or recognition is sought nor needed.
I asked Lynne if there was anything people could do to help out? She said:
“The one thing we really need is premises to bring everything together. We have equipment stored in many locations. Some of the larger items take up an enormous amount of space. Prams and cots for instance can’t be stored on top of each other so floor space is needed. This has meant that things are stored all over the place. Compiling one bundle can mean miles of driving between the various places where we have everything stored.
I would love to have a place where we could not only store equipment but have washers and dryers to process the massive amounts of clothes that we handle. Ironing stations. Areas where we could have drinks facilities where people could drop in and help out while gathering socially at the same time. Knitting groups to make clothes. Centralise the entire process allowing more people to get involved and meaning far less time and expense travelling between location
We have looked at some commercial premises that would be suitable but paying the rent would be out of our current capabilities. This is why we have launched the “Around a Pound” appeal. If we can get 1,000 local people to pledge just a pound a month we would have the money available to have rent an appropriate premesis enabling us to grow and streamline everything so we can help even more people.”
The organisation has grown beyond all expectations. I asked Lynne just how many families she thinks Cascade has helped since starting out. “We’ve issued over 16500 items since the end of 2014. It was quite slow to begin with but to give you an idea of where we’re at now, since the beginning of July we’ve supported 58 families. All of a sudden people are hearing about us and we now receiving referral requests from Abbey Hey Gorton, Rochdale, Stockport, and Harpurhey. This is in addition to the healthcare professionals already registered with us in Tameside and Glossop.”
This ladies passion and drive is totally infectious. I have now made it one of my personal targets to help this organisation raise the funds it needs to grow and we need your help! If you can spare a pound a month please complete the standing order mandate printed on this page and take it to your bank who will set up a payment for you. If you have internet banking you should be able to set something like this up for yourself. You will find the payee details on the mandate.
If you are a local landlord and think you have a suitable premises and can help out with a reduced rate please contact us here at SHMD News and we will forward any proposals directly to Mrs McMylor.
