Last updated 05:42, Friday, 19 September 2008

On Carlisle’s Raffles estate Kath Queen is everybody’s second mum. For many she is more important than their blood relations. Every day Kath deals with other people’s almighty problems.

Those who flock to her door at the Raffles Family Centre include lost souls struggling to cope with deep emotional traumas.

“It is social breakdown and the disintegration of the family unit which cause problems today. Drug abuse is another issue. Lack of money is no longer the cause of great unrest but many people are walking around with weeping wounds,” says 59-year-old Kath.

One estate resident describes her to me as the “Mother Teresa of Raffles”. It is a soubriquet that Kath would dismiss with embarrassment. Kath is a committed Christian but she does not cloak herself in her faith. She also views herself as just part of a team.

Kath is the first to admit that she does not have the answers to the big issues that cause social problems. But she does have a listening ear, a big heart and a pack of tissues in her bag.

Tears stream down her cheeks as she tells the story of a girl who suffered severe sexual abuse as a child and who first encountered Kath as a damaged adult whose life was falling apart. “She is a totally different person now. You can see the release in her face. When we first met she was full of fear and simply followed me around. I tried to guide her through her troubles. Now she is making decisions for herself and running her life properly,” says Kath.

Since Raffles Family Centre opened six years ago countless people have sought Kath’s help. She tries to say she isn’t soft and soggy and refuses to get sucked in to every trauma. Certainly, she knows how to look after herself; she also both demands and receives respect from the teenagers who live in Raffles. One icy look from Kath is capable of freezing most truculent teens.

It is clear, however, that despite her resolve she has become personally involved with many of those who have turned to the estate’s Mrs Fixit.

Kath was born in Raffles Avenue in 1948. The estate, which had been built in the 1920s as a tree-lined model council estate, was still a place where the residents took enormous pride in their homes and gardens. For many, getting a house in Raffles, with its thriving community, was a significant step up the social ladder.

Kath’s dad was a psychiatric nurse working at Garlands and the family eventually moved to Harraby where she went to school. However, her grandmother’s home in Raffles was the centre of family life and her heart remained on the estate where she had been born.

When Kath married Terry Queen in 1968, she couldn’t wait to move back to Raffles which was also the home of her husband’s family. Her life seemed complete when her two children Tracey, now 42 and Gary, 36, were born.

Her commitment to her community continued when she was appointed as a teaching assistant at Newtown primary school which serves the estate. Everything dear to Kath was close at hand on the estate. By now, she was a devout member of the nearby Church of the Nazarene in Belle Vue and an active member of the congregation. It was unthinkable to even consider living elsewhere.

Which is why she refused to leave her home when Raffles degenerated in the early 1990s into Carlisle’s worst trouble-spot.

Disaffected youths rioted in the streets and decent folk locked their doors and sat tight. A number of feuding families were relocated to the estate where unemployment was now rife. After dark parts of Raffles became a no-go zone. It was no longer a safe place to bring up a family. In Cumbria the name of Raffles became a byword for crime and disorder; a reputation it is still attempting to shake off.

“It was easy to feel that everyone had just given up on the place,’’ says Kath, who, by now, was running a breakfast club at Newtown School. “Some people think that a breakfast club removes responsibility from parents. But a lot of kids were coming to school hungry and how do you learn if there is nothing in your stomach?’’ she says.

Kath’s mantra is to try not to judge or condemn. She understands exactly how hard it is to raise a family in difficult circumstances and, through her work with the children, she gained the trust and respect of local families.

It was the ideal preparation for her coming role. At the darkest moment in the history of the estate Kath received what she calls “a vision”. She believes that God told her to start working directly on the estate to help those in need.

First, she set up a regular coffee morning for women in a wooden building known as the Green Hut and then in 1992 she started a children’s club using the church at Belle Vue as her base, collecting the kids in a bus. She knew, however, that a drop-in centre directly on the estate was vital.

Her gift from heaven arrived in the shape of Rob Bell who runs the Post Office in Raffles. Rob has bought the old co-operative store in Shady Grove Road at auction. He offered to pass it on to Kath who by now was working in partnership with pastor Barrie Thomas. The Living Well Trust, who today run the Family Centre, was formed by Barrie and Kath.

“It was the start of an amazing journey,” she says. Today, the centre which has been open for six years, runs a myriad of courses and programmes. There are parent and toddler groups, senior citizen clubs, keep fit classes, computer and cookery courses, baby massage and health clinics. Just recently, Kath has set up a Positive Parenting programme. Three weeks ago Kath took 15 women to Benidorm in Spain for a break and last year she took a group of mums to London for a few days. Many had never travelled outside Carlisle.

“There is a greater community spirit developing all the time. Raffles is now a place where people feel comfortable again. The Family Centre is an attempt to bring back the community feeling of the past and I hope it is working,” says Kath,

Of course, some of the problems are deep and the cracks cannot be papered over. Kath points out that many young mums lack the support of an extended family.

Teenage girls who become pregnant are often thrown out onto the streets; drug abuse, domestic violence, truancy and purposeless youths are still huge problems in Raffles, as they are across the UKin estates all over the country.

But Kath and her 15 fellow workers at the Family Centre are working hard to bring confidence and self esteem back to many of those who had lost it. Their aim is to show people how to help themselves. For many, self reliance and personal pride are the way forward.

“Everybody who comes to the centre has a clean sheet of paper every day. Goodness me, it never stops. People arrive with their problems all the time. But it’s not always a good idea just to rescue people – they have to learn to cope themselves.’’

Certainly, there are signs that the community in Raffles holds the Family Centre and those who work for its trust in high esteem. Largely dependent on fundraising for its existence, the centre raised £2,000 in two hours from residents at its Christmas Fair.

The trust’s work has also been recognised with a British Urban Regeneration award – a Social Justice award from the Conservative Party. Kath has also received a civic award from Carlisle City Council.

For Kath, her work is a mission rather than a job. Certainly, it appears that she needs Raffles as much as the people of the estate need her. Most weeks she works six days, and from 9am to around 7pm.

She says: “My life is here. I’ll never retire. Apart from my family this estate and its people mean everything to me. I don’t want to sound cheesy but it happens to be true. Sometimes I wish that I had found my mission in life when I was 25 or 30. Thing is, I wouldn’t have had the tools, the life experience or the wisdom to cope in those days.’’

Indeed. Few have Kath’s energy, guts, commitment and belief – no matter what their life experience.