Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘I was drinking so much I spent £9k in 10 weeks’
Years of battling alcohol addiction had led Danny Mckenna down a dark path. Before long he was on the city’s streets, often seen reading a book in the doorway of M&S. Now, two years sober, he tells Brad Harper how he turned his life around...
One day, while sat on the streets of Canterbury, Danny Mckenna looked up to see a child offer him some change.
He thought to himself: “Hey up, I’ve got a six-yearold boy here, spending his pocket money because he wants to make sure I’m not hungry and that I’m happy. “That’s when I stopped feeling sorry for myself.” Years of alcohol abuse had led Danny down a dark path. He had been drinking liberal amounts of booze since the age of 16. But he had always worked hard in various jobs, including as a railway patrolman and fruit picker.
Yet in April 2018 his spiralling addiction led to him losing everything and he was forced to sleep rough on the city’s streets. He would usually sit between the Warren James jewellers and M&S during the day, and would camp in St Peter’s churchyard at night.
Danny grew up in Aylesham, which at the time had a very close coal mining community and his dad worked tirelessly down the pits to provide for his family. “I couldn’t have asked for a better family, parents, or place to grow up because people always looked out for you there,” the 50-year-old says.
“I’ve always been a coward and my problems have never been worse than anyone else’s, but I always turned to the bottle.”
In 2016, Danny received the tragic news that his mum, Agnes, had been diagnosed with lung cancer. When she died two years later he admits he went “off the rails” and his alcoholism led to him losing everything. “My mum left me £9,000. I went through that in 10 weeks so that’s how much I was drinking,” he said. After splurging all of the cash, Danny became homeless in April 2018 and the first couple of months were filled with non-stop boozing because he wanted to die.
He never claimed benefits, never begged and tried to occupy his mind with books people had donated to him while battling his addiction. “I was sat there reading and not looking glum; it was up to people if they came up to me and approached me,” he said.
“I never asked for a penny and I was knocked by some of the other homeless, but what right did I have to ask for money? It’s not their fault I was there.”
But by August the same year, soon after the encounter with the young boy, Danny realised he might not have long left to live if he did not take drastic action, so he cut his alcohol intake. On September 5, 2018, he finally quit.
He was still camping in the churchyard and towards the end of that month introduced himself to Rev Jo Richards, who runs the church.
She didn’t know he had been sleeping there for months, and Danny asked her if, for rent, he could do some gardening and upkeep - which she agreed to.
“If I didn’t have this, I would have been back on the drink,” he says. “But people put their time and effort into me.
“I try not to look at the past now because I start cringing. “I hate the term ‘recovering alcoholic’ - I prefer ‘sober alcoholic’ because you never recover and the day you think you have you will fall flat on your face.”
From there, Danny started to rebuild his life and was housed in April 2019 in shared accommodation. The once neglected churchyard has now been transformed into a scene of tranquillity and thriving plants thanks to Danny’s hard work.
He managed to get himself an allotment, where he spends a lot of his time, as well as maintaining his hobby of reading, and now wants to get his own home. Although he was born a Catholic, Danny admits he is not religious. Yet he and Rev Richards have struck up a perhaps unlikely friendship. “This lady saved my life,” he says.
“She’s got three children, a husband and she runs three churches but she always had time for me and she has never preached to me.
“If it weren’t for your trust Jo, I would be dead.”
It’s clear the two have formed a unique bond. Because for the first time since she was ordained six years ago, Rev Richards is in tears.
“I was relatively new to the post when Dan first arrived here and it was run-down and quite camouflaged,” she says.
“Gradually the whole place has been transformed. “People come here and they can’t believe it’s the same place. Everything here is down to Dan’s hard work and dedication.”
“But it works both ways, Jo,” Danny responds. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here.”
They now share an ambition of turning St Peter’s Church, which Rev Richards admits is underused, into a community hub for the marginalised to make it an “oasis on the high street”. But they desperately need funds to fix the roof and are appealing for any business to donate an ex-display kitchen to get the project going. “When it is up and running, everyone is welcome,” Danny says. “And we really mean that, because they let a Catholic do the garden!”
‘I’ve always been a coward and my problems have never been worse than anyone else’s, but I always turned to the bottle’