MARKY’S STORY TO HELP OTHERS
THE inspiring story of a chef who became homeless at the age of 35 is being retold to help others who find themselves in difficult situations. Marky Quinn spent time sleeping in Cardiff’s car parks, doorways and beneath a bush in Bute Park for two years.
Yet he found a way out of his plight and worked with city charities, including The Wallich, to write a book full of advice for people who found themselves in a similar situation.
The book was first published in 2009 and gives advice on how to look after a dog while homeless, how to keep your clothes dry and stay safe at night.
Marky died in March this year. But now in his memory The Wallich has reproduced his advice as a waterproof pocket book which is being given out at the Homeless World Cup in memory of football fan Marky.
“My story started when I took a council flat in a rough area of Cardiff,” he wrote in 2009.
Marky went on the streets in 2009 but had no idea how hard it would be.
“I thought that surely if I was on the street, somebody was bound to help me. How gullible I was. I ended up being robbed in the first week. All I had were the clothes I was standing up in,
so I met a few people and formed a few friendships,” he wrote. “We stuck together, whether finding a place to sleep, food, clobber, or the pure escapism that would almost be my downfall – alcohol!
“One day I woke up soaking wet through, down a lane near The Wallich nightshelter with a couple of my mates, and I thought – ‘I don’t know how much more of this I can take’.”
The council’s city centre team helped him and gave him advice on hostels.
“I started selling the Big Issue, which was a great decision, a great way to meet people, make money and feel almost normal. This gave me the confidence in myself to buy clothes, save money and, amazingly, to drink less – creating a new person.
“After just a month of finding my feet, I had a phone call from Shoreline saying I had a place in a house in Canton.
“If I could aspire to be anything now, it would be to give a little bit back by going into the same line of work as those that helped me on a very rocky road that I never thought I would make the end of,” he wrote at the time.