Hi, my name is Sabrina Swaby and I’m a Customer Service Assistant. I’ve been with Sheffield Homes since April 23rd 2007 and I’d like to tell you a little story.

During the floods in Summer 2007 we had quite a few people call us in the call centre with questions and concerns and comments about the way that it had devastated the city. Thankfully we were prepared for the calls we were getting so were able to give people advice and point them in the right direction. So even though it was a very unfortunate circumstance, it was rewarding to know that we could help people in any way possible.

Some people were upset, some were just grateful for any help we could give, so when we had the opportunity to assist more we jumped at the chance. Some of us decided to attend the area where the floods were and some others, like myself, decided to help in the emergency contact centre. We had people call us up there, and again, we would give information. Some would offer to make donations and say, “I’ve got a big house! Does anyone need a room for the night?” and they would come and give us some assistance.

I got so much from the experience, I decided to carry on volunteering as a CSA in the community. I went out to visit some of the flood victims and got to see how they were doing and made sure they knew about all the services and grants that were available to them. It was obvious some people needed support as they were living out of their garage, so it was nice to be able to help them.

I’m still volunteering as a CSA now through the Major Incident Response Group of Sheffield Council, which means I’ll be fully trained and will have a specific role to help people. And that’s my story of working at Sheffield Homes!

Hello, I’m Grenville Squires. I’ve been an Estate Officer for Sheffield Homes for the last 28 years and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it as it’s been so varied.

I’d like to tell you a story about one day when I was walking along the landings on the Park Hill distributing black bags – we give tenants 3 bags a week. I noticed a man had collapsed inside his front door and it was locked. He was in such a position that if we smashed the door the glass panel would have cut his neck and if we kicked the door in we would have broke his shoulder. So I thought “how are we going to sort this out?”

After a bit of thought I went into the next doors flat, got into their kitchen veranda and swung around with 60 ft of fresh air under my posterior and dropped down onto the other kitchen veranda. I went into the flat, pulled the gentleman out of the way and put him in the recovery position. I found his key and opened the front door just as his wife and the ambulance man arrived, who said to me “You’re lucky you got to this man when you did” and he was starting to go blue round his mouth and was cutting his own air supply off.

It all got a bit embarrassing after that because for the next 4 years, no matter where I was, whenever I saw this lady she told whoever she was with “Ah, there’s that lad that saved my husbands life – isn’t he a goodun!” It was a bit embarrassing!

That’s just one story I’ve got after 28 years, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

My name is Nick. I work for Sheffield Homes, formally the Housing Department, and have been here for 25 and a half years, and I’d like to tell you a short story of what I deal with.

I dealt with a customer during an interview whose parents has passed away quite suddenly within 2 days of each other and she was very distraught. I had to be a good listener and slowly talk to her and at the end of the interview I made her happier and smile again because I was so caring and made sure I was doing the right thing.

And the other little story I was involved with is dealing with a project adding security to one of our community centres and also helping out with a counsellor.

And that’s just some of the stories I’ve been involved with in my job at Sheffield Homes.

Hello, my name is Paul Johnson. I’m one of the Neighbourhood Wardens based in the Norfolk Park Housing office and I’ve been with the company since September 2007. Now I’d like to tell you a little story…

Myself and the team that I work with have a vast area that we cover and one of the issues and success stories we had was on a housing estate called Leverton Gardens. There was a lot of problems with anti-social behaviour, drug-dealing and rough sleepers. We worked with the local community, safer neighbourhood team and local residents, and in the few months we’ve been down there, we’ve been the eyes and ears of the community. We’ve managed to turn the estate around to make it a batter place to live.

And that’s just some of the work that we do here at Sheffield Homes.