I’ve no children of my own but now I have a grandson... that’s how it feels helping Fernando
Former Benidorm star travels to Brazil to highlight how charity Plan International UK transform children’s lives
STROLLING past coconut palms in Brazil, hand in hand with her “grandson”, Sheila Reid’s face is a picture of pure joy – and compassion.
She is not enjoying the 45C heat but the Scots actress slapped on her sun hat and some factor 50 before Fernando, eight, took her off to visit his school.
Fans of a certain hit ITV comedy would have found the scene rather surprising.
They last saw Sheila, 79, driving off into the sunset on a mobility scooter, past the coconut cocktail bars of Benidorm. And her face was fixed in the perma-tanned scowl of acid-tongued, chain-smoking, skinflint Madge Harvey – a gran with nurturing instincts as scant as her leopard-skin bikinis.
But then Glasgow-born Sheila and her TV alter ego have always been worlds apart, as she proved when she flew 5500 miles to a poverty-stricken village to meet a little boy whose life she has transformed.
The actress is a passionate supporter of Plan International UK, a charity who help hundreds of thousands of children in 51 countries through public sponsorship.
Over the last 34 years, she has sponsored two girls from Bolivia and two living in Ecuador. And for the past four years, she has been supporting Fernando, who lives with his family near Codo, a city in north-eastern Brazil.
Sheila said: “I fell in love with Fernando when I first saw his photograph and we have been writing to each other ever since.
“But I really, really wanted to meet this gorgeous child and see how Plan International and my sponsorship help him and his community.
“I’ll be 80 in December and the charity celebrate their 80th anniversary this year, too, so I thought, ‘Now’s my chance’. And meeting Fernando has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.”
The star of stage and screen, who wed her partner of 32 years, Terry Bullen, in January 2012, added: “There was an instant and deeply personal connection when we met.
“I don’t have any children of my own – it’s not that I didn’t want them, it’s just that it never happened. But I’ve been very lucky to have several godchildren
and great-godchildren. And now I’ve got a new grandson. That’s how it feels to have Fernando in my life. “He is the most gorgeous child. He has beautiful brown eyes, the most incredibly long eyelashes and such a sweet smile. He is very shy, but he was enchanting and once we got to know each other, he started putting his hand in mine and showing me round.
“He has a lovely sister, Fernanda, who’s 13, and they live with their parents Francisco and Raimunda – and his grandma Joana is nearby.
“They were so warm and welcoming, and so grateful that I’d gone out there – yet I was the one who was getting the biggest gift. It was extraordinary. I’m still
excited and I keep looking at his photographs.”
Plan International help almost 15,000 children in Brazil. Sponsors commit to making donations of £19.50 a month, or more, and receive regular updates, letters and photos from their sponsored child.
The money helps their families – and communities – by providing clean water, sanitation and health care, as well as helping to build schools, train teachers and educate youngsters about equal rights and good citizenship.
The remote state of Maranhao where Fernando lives is the poorest in Brazil. Codo, a city of 128,000 people, has no public transport system and only one hospital. Three out of four families survive on £2 a day and have no sanitation. Many children suffer from malnutrition and there’s a high rate of infant mortality.
But Sheila saw how the charity are making a real difference there.
She said: “On the way to Fernando’s village, I saw a well that the locals used to use until Plan International provided clean water. It was enough to give you beriberi just looking at it.
“And we visited a community called a quilombo, founded by descendants of Afro-Brazilian slaves, where the charity built a proper school in place of a mud hut and trained teachers.
“Fernando took me to his school, too – a wonderful, happy place where children are desperate to learn and with inspiring teachers.
“Back home, Fernando and I sat and did some colouring-in together. Then he introduced me to his adorable pet rabbit.
“Fernando and I couldn’t really talk to each other, because of the language barrier, but we communicated with hugs and hand-holding.
“He wants to be a lorry driver when he grows up and I took him a mechanical vehicle, which he loved.
“He was also thrilled that I took him a football and a pump, because he’s crazy about football, like all Brazilians.
“It was just wonderful – more rewarding than I can say.”
Sheila added: “I began sponsoring
in 1983. I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to help a child who wasn’t born with all the advantages in life that I was.
“It gives you so much joy and you can see that you really are helping to make a difference to these youngsters’ lives – to watch your children growing and developing through their letters and pictures.”
After leaving Benidorm two years ago, Sheila returned to the stage starring in Sandi Toksvig’s play about a retirement home, Silver Lining.
And despite her milestone birthday this Christmas, she has no intention of putting up her own feet.
She joked: “Retirement? How do you spell that? I don’t even recognise the word. I love this job and I’ve been blessed to meet and work with some amazing people in my career.”
They include Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.
This autumn, she’ll be back on our screens in an Agatha Christie spoof for UK Gold called Murder on the Blackpool Express – with Benidorm co-star Johnny Vegas.
She said: “Life is so full of unexpected surprises.
“One minute I was cooped up on a bus filming, the next I was jetting off to Brazil to meet Fernando.
“I look at his photo every day now and I’m able to picture him getting up at home, walking to school, enjoying his lessons or playing football.
“We really have a personal connection now – he’s part of the family.”