Loving life... - Tom Cowen

Tom says he loves his life. For the last three years he has been living in his own house with a team of PAs and a house mate from Community Service Volunteers to support him and things have just got better and better!

Looking back to when he and his family were planning his move into his own place Tom remembers that it was sometimes quite hard. But he remembers people who helped him to get things sorted out – like Dave Abbey who arranged a mortgage for Tom, Martin from Advance Housing and Chris from CSV who helped him find a volunteer house mate. Tom remembers recruiting PAs with the help of Maggie and his mum. There was a lot to do to make it all work but it has all been worth it.

When asked what makes his life so good Tom says without hesitation that it’s his friends. He loves playing pool, going to sports club, having friends round for a ‘Come dine with Tom’, playing on the Wii, gardening and lots more. At the time we were speaking to Tom he was planning a ‘Fair Trade Big Brew’ at his house for friends and neighbours for Fair Trade Fortnight. The fair trade honey cupcakes are bound to go down a treat!

Tom loves people, he loves being busy and he loves helping people. Some of the things he really enjoys are working at City Screen to set up for gigs, conservation work on Mondays, working on his own allotment and other people’s, cooking to name but a few. He loves bringing people together – whether it’s at barbeque parties at his house or organising ‘diggin’ days’ at his allotment.

Tom is always happy to tell people about his life – especially how he has achieved independent living, his fair trade and music gig microenterprises. He loves doing talks and presentations – he says:

“Telling your story helps other people to get a life.”

Would he recommend other people to get a place of their own: “I would say – go ahead and do it”.

When asked what makes him feel proud Tom says:

“It’s helping people that makes me feel proud.”

And he’s certainly good at that – whether it’s doing the washing up or organising music gigs to raise money for Tsolo School in South Africa. A few years ago Tom visited South Africa with his friend Kirsty. Recently he’s been talking to her about the possibility of a return visit. Watch this space!

Tom’s been all over the country telling people how he’s achieved his good life. But has he been inspired by anyone himself? A few years ago Tom went to London to see Nelson Mandela launch the Make Poverty History Campaign in Trafalgar Square. Tom says:

“I like Nelson Mandela a lot. He’s a nice man – he helps people. He was in prison and then he became President of South Africa. He’s a very old man now. My favourite film is Invictus – I like it when Nelson Mandela said to the Captain of the SA rugby team, Francois Pienaar, after South Africa won the World Cup, “Thank you my friend”.