The huge range of House Clearance services
Dark mornings and evenings remind me that it’s not long until Santa will be visiting us all very soon. With the cost of living and rising costs everywhere it will be a very difficult time for many. Earlier in the week we completed the house clearance of a property in Petworth. The gentleman had moved to a supported living flat in Chichester and part of our instructions was to take some family items to his daughter’s property in Midhurst and then deliver some boxes to the gentleman.
On arrival a lovely man who looked just like Captain Birdseye with a huge grey beard greeted us. I could also hear a strange voice saying ‘More people, more people’. It turned out to be the most amazing parrot called Winkle. Well winkle could certainly talk and was obviously fantastic company for our client.
Working in the house clearance business, we often have to deal with people who have lost life-long partners, leaving them at times very lonely. Even with family visiting, speaking with a lady recently she said that the days at this time of the year are very long.
Working in West Wittering recently we had to clear a few rooms in a semi-detached property so a lady could live downstairs as she was no longer able to manage the stairs safely. The lady had lots of family, mostly living in Selsey, so she had no shortage of visitors. However, she confided in me that it was the company of her recently lost husband that she found very difficult. She did say that she was lucky to have a good family and did not know how she could cope without them.
I do think loneliness is a huge problem amongst the older generation but in reality it could be a problem in the future for anyone.
Walking my dogs in Felpham and along the seafront in Bognor Regis I always feel blessed that you can speak to so many different people about the weather, the dogs or anything and it may be that’s the only conversation that person may have that whole day. I must admit I can’t imagine my life without an old English Sheepdog – they get very wet, make a huge mess but have the biggest hearts and lovely nature.
Recently in Slindon woods I bumped into a bloke who had lived in Arundel but had moved back to Wales to look after his dad following the death of his mother. He was in Sussex sorting out some business issues. As we walked the dogs, knowing I worked in the house clearance industry, he said that when he moved to Wales he went to see his dad who has a family history of heart attacks and short lives. He found his dad had cleared mostly everything from the family home and had created a book. In the book was his instructions for his funeral that was all paid for, details of two charities to contact for anything salvageable from the property and the numbers of two skip companies for the remainder of the contents of the house plus details of his will and the solicitor to contact on his death. His dad had been a firefighter in Chichester before returning to Wales and had seen death first-hand and obviously was very practical about the whole process. I joked that if there were more people like him there would be no need for house clearance companies! A very interesting conversation and walk.
House Clearance help
I get many calls asking for help – a lady from Emsworth called last week as she was in the process of opening a ‘Warm and Welcoming’ room in a hall locally. She needed crockery and cutlery; in fact they had nothing but as luck would have it we were clearing a property in Fishbourne. A storage facility in Chichester had donated a small unit so I was able to deliver some useful household goods to help this much-needed room open sooner rather than latter. It was very inspirational – all these ladies were not young and had all joined together to help the local community in Emsworth.
It has been raining heavily of late and I remember a similar situation in Felpham near Bognor Regis a few years ago where a number of roads were flooded and the houses swamped. In particular, a cul de sac in Middleton-on-Sea saw every bungalow under water. The whole local community rallied round, not only transporting people from properties but helping stacking and trying to save some people’s possessions. I had no idea that the water contained so much sewage and after a few days every property just smelled absolutely so badly. Once the water had been in contact with anything in the houses it was ruined, as the smell just seemed to penetrate any surface, especially soft furnishing.
One family, who wanted to clear their garage, taking the contents to family friends in Selsey and Pagham so that they could use wooden pallets to store some of their salvaged possessions, contacted me. I was able to help them pick up the pallets from industrial units in Littlehampton and Rustington. Other families parked two camper vans in a dry road nearby and were providing other residents with lovely hot tea and coffee. Another resident had a large 4x4 pick-up, which was able to go in the deep water and remove items other residents needed. By using this vehicle we were able to remove two large birdcages and reunite them with the canaries that had been moved to Aldwick. The 4x4 also brought out two medium sized fish tanks, which we moved to my van and quickly took them to Barnham where, after plugging the tank back in, all the tropical fish were fine.
Our other big rescue was two beautiful large rabbits called Carrot and Charlie. They had been brought inside a house in their transportation cages the night before and both their outside cage and hutch had been lifted onto garden furniture. They enjoyed a rather bumpy journey to their new temporary home in Arundel. The whole local community really helped each other in Felpham and as with flooding it took months and months for people to get back in their homes. I took many loads of soiled possessions and furniture to the waste facilities in Chichester and T J Waste in Yapton – my poor old van did not smell good for ages afterwards.
Well, it’s another week nearer to Santa visiting, as the evenings get darker and I look forward to visiting Cowdray Park’s light show in Midhurst. I always know that the shortest day signals the long road to the return of lovely summer days!
If you have a property that needs to be cleared please do not hesitate to contact me for any advice always happy to attend and provide a non obligation quote it can be a difficult and daunting task
We have a week of helping new clients: a house to clear in Goodwood near Chichester; I need to finish a job in Pulborough and we have to remove a shed in West Chiltington and take the contents to Storrington.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
