Torquay’s Factory Row hostel is 5-star luxury compared to life in a tent.
That’s the message 34-year-old Darren Doherty gave to the leader of UK’s Methodists when he visited the 28-bed Leonard Stocks Centre in January.
Darren told the Rev Richard Andrew, President of the Methodist Conference, he was rough-sleeping in Scadson Woods for 11 months before finally being offered a place in the hostel.
“It’s not just the cold and the wet it’s the boredom. The support here has been amazing and I can start to re-build my life from here.”
Darren said a relationship break-up and losing his bank account set him on a slippery slope. He was quickly ensnared in alcohol and drugs, a desperate and disastrous trap that many homeless people fall into.
Now he is in recovery, getting regular support from the Shrublands rehabilitation centre in Morgan Avenue, Torquay.
After meeting Darren and touring the hostel, purpose-built in 2006 to provide single-room accommodation for men and women, Rev Andrew said: “The hostel is a practical expression of compassion. Society has a duty of care to for our neighbours when they fall down. We have a duty to pick them up.
“Care for the vulnerable is an expression of all faiths and it’s been great to see love in action in Torbay making such a difference.”
Richard met with Nick Pannell, chairman of the Friends of Factory Row who explained that the hostel opened in 1991 in because of the determination and generosity of local churches. A whole row of old terraced houses were slowly purchased and then demolished to create the modern Leonard Stocks Centre run by Torbay Council.
The hostel continues to be supported by local churches, especially in the town centre where rough sleeping is increasing and the hostel remains the only route off the street.
