Jobs for the boys
SELFLESS TRADESPEOPLE FLOCK TO HELP CREATE A SUITABLE HOME FOR THREE YOUNGSTERS WHO LOST THEIR MUM
DIY SOS: THE BIG BUILD
BBC1, 8pm
THIS show sucker punches you in the heart like no other, always delivering emotional stories of a community transforming lives.
In this episode, Nick Knowles, the DIY SOS team and a massive group of local volunteers are in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, to help three orphaned boys living with their grandparents. Stephen and Lynn Smedley spent 15 years fostering 103 children, from premature babies with cerebral palsy to teenage mothers.
They were looking forward to a well-earned retirement in their dream bungalow, when in April 2017 everything was shattered.
Their 32-year-old daughter Carrie died suddenly, leaving behind her three boys, Ruben, who was 13, Jaden, who was eight, and Uche, who was six.
“The little ones couldn’t wake her in the morning,” recalls Lynn. “They went to get Ruben who took them all to a relative nearby. Those poor boys. They’re my world and we took them in without hesitation.”
But the family has been squeezed into a tiny two-bed bungalow, with the three growing boys in a triple bunk bed, only one bathroom and Lynn even forced to do the washing and ironing in the shed. Ruben says: “This isn’t just about me, it’s about everyone. It’s about my brothers, my nan and grandad and the family.”
The army of builders, fuelled by pasties, gets to work to turn the bungalow into something quite special.
From the younger boys’ disbelief at getting separate bedrooms, to the 103 butterflies adorning the garden wall, and the quiet joy from teen Ruben, yes… it’s another heartbreaker.