[INTRO]

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[SAMIRA] This is episode 4. It will begin with the voices of Ellie’s family and friends celebrating Ellie’s birthday, and you will hear a tale that Jacky narrated to Ellie and the story behind it, ending in a poem personally written by a Bandobast member.

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[SINGING]

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Elinor

Happy birthday to you!

[CHEERING]

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[PODCAST MUSIC]

[BECKAH]

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Hi! And welcome to this series – Who Cares? We are a collaboration between four students from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama otherwise known as Bandobast Theatre Collective, and Camden Carers – a service for improving the quality of life, health and wellbeing for all carers in the borough of Camden.

With the help of Claudia, Chris, Mekhled, Berni, Fionnuala and Jacky, we have compiled a series of episodes each – using their creative content, and curated by us to hopefully celebrate the fact that there is no single story when it comes to carers; each person being a unique creative in their own right, with the only single narrative applicable being that each of these fantastic persons is brimming to the top as an inspiration of love.

Each day, for the seven days of this Carers’ Week, we will be releasing another specially made episode. Each one focusing on one person we worked with for this project.

In this episode we meet Jacky and her daughter Ellie – they are quite the team! We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed looking at the beautiful videos Jacky sent us. Hear is their story.

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[PODCAST MUSIC ENDS]

[STORY MUSIC]

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[BECKAH] Once upon a time there was a little girl called Ellie, and she lived in the middle of the woods with her Mummy and Daddy. Every day her carer Denise would come to collect her, and they went out in her red and yellow boat. They went to Ellie’s favourite house down the river because it was made of chocolate. Denise let her knock on the door to say

[SAMIRA] Hello!

[BECKAH] to the three bears who lived there.

[SAMIRA] “Can I have some chocolate?”

[BECKAH] Ellie said before she said hello. Of course they gave her some chocolate on the house and Ellie was very happy.

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[JACKY] I started telling my daughter Annie, this story when she was four years old. I’m still telling her that story and she is now 30 years old. You see, my daughter Ellie doesn’t really understand what it is to be a grown woman – she just knows what she likes. When we’re talking to grown-ups who are often younger than Ellie, we say she had severe learning disabilities and complex health needs.

When new doctors or paramedics meet her, we give them more detail and say she has unpredictable epilepsy and no mental capacity. I always hate that last term because that’s not entirely true. For example, when we go out with her in the car, and we park the car somewhere, we often forget where we parked – we’ve been out so long. Ellie always remembers – she always does – so we never get lost! Also, Ellie knows where her favourite shops are, and she can lead us on a mer-ry dance around the around the streets of West End in the centre of London until we finally end up at her favourite shop, which of course is the Disney Store on Oxford Street. She can remember exactly where that is - wherever we’ve parked!

The list of things she loves goes on and on, but she does know what loves. Ellie lives in a lovely flat in North West London with two other friends and lots of support staff to help live her daily life. Right now, Ellie and her flatmates are not allowed to meet up with their families because of the coronavirus. All her usual daily activities have been cancelled, and she finds it hard without her usual routines, so she prefers to stay in bed in the mornings.

Her support workers are wonderful, and make sure she gets up and gets on with her personal care - they’re all heroes as they’ve been risking their own personal safety to get to work for over two months now. Ellie had to quarantine for a couple of weeks, but now she’s allowed to go out to the local park and nearby residential streets, but she cannot understand why she isn’t able to get her favourite 168 bus on Chalk Farm Road. She can’t understand why she cannot go to her favourite shop which is Morrisons – she’s confused.

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[STORY MUSIC]

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We’re looking forward to see her again, and when we do, we will meet her in the local park. We will stand or we’ll sit two metres away, but we cannot give her a big hug. However, I can tell you that I will tell her her favourite story of the house in the woods...and the red and yellow boat – I think she’ll like that!

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[SAMIRA] I’ll be reading out a poem by Beckah – a Bandobast member.

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[PODCAST MUSIC]

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From the moment I saw you,

I knew love would never be the same again

All you could do was cry

My heart rejoiced at the sound

 

There’s something wrong...they said,

And my heart knew that THEY were wrong

What they saw as different – I saw as perfect!

Even then, I knew you were special

 

When you first learned to walk,

You first learned to fall

The frustration on your face as you concentrated hard

Only to find your efforts in vain,

But you never gave up,

And just started over and over again

 

If at first you don’t succeed,

You’ll have a jolly good try the second and third

And get there in the end

Through all of the pain, the meds, the scans,

The doctors, the clinics, the poking, the prodding,

The head scratching, The “This might be a bit colds”,

Never once did you complain!

 

As yet, another test came back ‘inconclusive’,

And my frustration exploded and patience expired,

You? You took it all in your stride,

Never complaining,

You moved through those spaces with a grace

I can only look up to and admire

 

See... in all of the years,

I can only watch on and admire

In awe and disbelief that

A person can be so brave...so humble,

In this world full of pain

 

You... a rainbow of love,

Guiding all you who meet you to

Grow the empty space of the heart,

To accommodate just a little bit more love,

And a lot more understanding

 

As I watch...every day,

How much happiness and joy you give,

I know again – in my heart,

Just how mistaken they were

 

Once again...I know,

There was nothing wrong

If anything...my love,

You were showing us all how to live

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[PODCAST MUSIC ENDS]

[PODCAST MUSIC BEGINS]

[OUTRO]

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[SAMIRA] Hi again! I am Samira, and you have been listening to Who Cares? A collaboration between us – Bandobast Theatre Collective and Camden Carers. In this episode you heard Jacky’s story which included the voicesof Beckah, Jacky and I. We hoped you enjoyed it, and will be tuning into the next episode hosted by Nim, where we will meet Fionnuala – Bye for now!

[END OF PODCAST