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Sarah Kelly
Wetherby News
May 21st 2004
Caring couple whose door is always open |
MANY people say Anne and Geoff Green should have a revolving door on the front of their house.
There are so many people popping in and out, the Tadcaster couple always set one or two extra places at the dinner table so they can feed any additional hungry mouths, whether they be a friend, neighbour, or relative.
Their house has not only been home to their four children and adopted son Raymond, but to 26 other youngsters when they desperately needed a place to stay.
Anne and Geoff are well-known throughout Tadcaster for their hard work for Tadcaster in Bloom, but they have also played an important part in many children’s’ lives as emergency foster parents.
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Anne said: “It seems daft but when I was younger and the teachers asked what I was going to do I said I’m going to get married, have four kids and then look after as many children as I can. We’d been so lucky with our four children that we wanted to give something back.”
They initially got involved with fostering with the intention of becoming foster parents to a disabled child, but then volunteered to care for children as emergency foster parents.
Some of the children came to them because their parents had been taken to hospital. Others were there because authorities had decided to take them into care.
The children would arrive at any time, day or night, and could be staying with the Greens for anything ranging from a day to a few months.
“We thought if we just have them for a few days then we can at least give them a taste of a normal life. Some of the kids had never set a table or had clean clothes before,” Anne explained.
The couple’s three daughters and son, who were ten, 11, 13 and 15 at the time, quickly adapted to the situation and were pleased to share their parents with whoever walked though their door.
Anne said: “The whole family had to do it.
“Whenever a new child arrived, we would all have to be done for nits and worms.
“It was a family decision and the children said they wanted to share us.”
But being a foster parent is a hard job. The children who came to the Greens sometimes had behavioural problems.
And when you become the parent of a child, no matter for how long, it is always easy to get attached. Anne said: “We do miss them. You just have to get used to it.
“It was upsetting knowing that some were going back to the problems they had before but hopefully, somewhere along in their life, they will remember there were a normal few weeks.”
Eventually the couple were approached about looking after Raymond. He was six months old and suffered from Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
“Raymond was six months old when he came to us and they told us they didn’t expect him to live too long. They said if he spoke at all it would be parrot fashion,”said Anne.
But Raymond has proved the doctors wrong. He celebrated his 21st birthday this year and will happily talk to anyone. He is a huge Leeds United fan, enjoying going to their training ground at Thorp Arch, and two days a week he travels to Selby to attend a learning centre.
“We know he is handicapped but Raymond is Raymond first,” Anne said. We’re determined that he has a life. We go on holiday and we took him to see Grease in London. Every day that he’s here is an achievement.”
As Raymond needed more attention, Anne and Geoff decided to give up emergency fostering. Then, when Raymond was four years old, they adopted him and he has been with them ever since.
As well as looking after children, the couple have also done a huge amount for Tadcaster in Bloom. Geoff, who was born in Tadcaster and has lived there all his life, said the couple stepped down from the project two years ago because of other commitments, but now he has retired from his job at John Smith’s Brewery, he and Anne are back on board.
“We said we would come back if we could get a team together. We do it for the town and its residents,” he said.
It was Anne and Geoff who came up with idea of asking shops to decorate their windows as part of the competition, as well as the contest for the best residents’ gardens and allotments.
Anne, who is from Boston Spa and came to Tadcaster when she married Geoff 37 years ago, used to be involved with the Tadcaster branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. She is now chairman of Wetherby Family History Group, which she thoroughly enjoys.
The couple attribute their caring nature to what they were taught as children. Anne said: “We always welcome everyone in. It’s how we were brought up and how our children have been brought up. Too many people are too busy keeping up with the Jones’s that they forget that children are only children; they don’t know right from wrong unless we tell them. This is not a house, it’s a home.”
Angela Usher, president of Tadcaster Chamber of Trade and friend of the Greens, paid tribute to the couple. She said: "I just think they’re a great example of thinking of other people and putting other people before themselves. They are great for the town.”
sarah.kelly@ypn.co.uk
l Do you know any Unsung Heroes? Let us know about them by calling 01937 582663, e-mailing wetherby.news@ypn.co.uk or writing to Wetherby News, 9 Westgate, Wetherby, LS22 6LL. |
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