Electrical contractors fit ovens for newly housed families this Christmas

Edinburgh City Electrical Contractors (ECEC) teamed up with homeless charity Cyrenians to ensure that two families who were formerly homeless were able to cook during the festive period.

Wayne Archibald, managing director at ECEC

The electrical contractors, based in Leith, answered the call from Cyrenians to help install two electrical cookers at two properties for their service users.ECEC was inundated with work leading up to Christmas but managing director, Wayne Archibald, went to deal with the request himself, free of charge, after learning about the work that Cyrenians do to help the homeless community.He said: “They called us up and said a couple of folk were sitting with electric cookers but couldn’t get them fitted. They asked for a price but after learning of what they do - I just went out there and connected them myself.“Was good having a bit of a crack with the households and to find out their stories. To be honest, I never walk past homeless folk, you never know their stories, their background and could just be a spout of bad luck, so I always try to support homeless folk whenever I can.“We have offered to help them in the future. We believe it doesn't take much to offer an hour of our time to complete jobs for a great cause.”Cyrenians were over the moon with the offer for assistance, with Kevin Balfour, Cyrenians housing first support worker, saying: "The pandemic has had a huge impact on those we support here at Cyrenians but I'm incredibly grateful to ECEC for their help."In December two of our clients, one of whom had been in their new tenancy since the beginning of the pandemic but had been unable to get anyone out to fit their cooker, were delighted to have ECEC arrange for their appliances to be connected free of charge."It meant that they both were able to have a proper cooked meal for their first Christmas in their new home. It may feel like a small gesture but the impact this has had is overwhelming. "It sends such a lovely message to show this kind of generosity and kindness, and I'm so grateful to the team at ECEC who made this happen."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.