Men at work’s mercy mission
Reporter: HELEN KORN
Date published: 21 February 2011
BIG THANK-YOU... the flood-hit town of Ipswich acknowledges the efforts of Roy and his helpers.
Oldhamer Roy to the rescue as Australian towns recover from flooding
AN OLDHAM man who set up a building firm in Queensland has given a new lease of life to its residents.
Joiner Roy Jewitt (36) who played rugby league for Waterhead, moved from Oldham to Young, New South Wales, 15 years ago.
After the recent flash floods, he arranged for a coachload of 27 carpenters, plumbers, plasterers and other traders from Young to take a 15-hour bus trip to Ipswich and Goodna – the towns which were worst affected.
Roy said: "We met Betty — who was 72, she'd been in the 1974 floods which were worse. We spent three days revamping her house.
"Goodna was an eye-opener to us all. We repaired a Vietnamese family home and when the little girl arrived home from school, the look on her face was amazing.
“It brought a tear to a few of the boys – a toss-up between Christmas Day and winning the lottery.
"She couldn’t believe what we had done."
Roy and his gang also took boxes of toys to donate to a family of five who lost everything.
The team agreed to pay out of its funds and rallied round, getting donations for 50 sheets of lining to use in wet areas of houses and AUS$3,000 worth of materials.
He added: "In total we rewired, did the plumbing and plasterboarding for 15 families.
“When we were told 75,000 had been damaged it made our 15 look rather small, but we were proud to have given these families a huge start to rebuilding their lives.
"After all, we were just a group of blokes who took time out of their lives to donate a week to help people.
"We've come home better for the experience and will now look at doing the same in the future.
"Becky Jones who played rugby for England, co-ordinated the work and she did an amazing job running around after us. Oldham can be proud of her."
