One Of My All-Time Greatest Heroes

Sue will always be one of my all-time greatest heroes.

I told her this in a text message a few weeks before she died. She probably thought I was drunk and, to be fair, there’s a good chance that I was. I’m sure that Sue will always be a hero to many as she spent her whole life helping other people to help themselves. 

Sue first helped me when was I a trainee Youth Worker and we were doing a course. The older lot (I was 16 then) decided to drive to the pub one night but there wasn’t any room in the car for me. They were going to leave me behind but Sue wouldn’t hear of it and she opened the boot of her MG Metro and bundled me in; making sure she copped a feel of my scrawny 16 year old arse. 

Since then, I’ve seen Sue do this sort of thing so many more times – not go around grabbing teenage boys’ arses – although I wouldn’t put it past her. What I mean is, that I’ve seen the way in which Sue always looked out for the ones who weren’t as strong; weren’t as popular or weren’t as easy to work with. 

In her lifetime, Sue’s work has had an impact on so many lives; maybe hundreds of people. Youth Clubs, Hostels, Schools, the Police, her domestic violence work…there really aren’t many more things that Sue could have done to help others before she had to leave us. 

She leaves behind an incredible legacy; a long trail of other people whose lives she’s touched; I wonder how many women have found the courage to leave their abusive partner because of Sue? I wonder how many young people have found a way to stop self harming because of Sue; and I wonder how many homeless families have got their lives back on track because of Sue?

But, on the other hand, Sue certainly wasn’t Mother Theresa – not unless Mother Theresa got giddy when she saw a copper in uniform and swore like a trooper! At Youth Club it was never the kids that smuggled alcohol into the end of term disco – it was always Sue! Once, she got so drunk, that when the kids were spinning her round in a twirly chair she had a giggling fit –  then wet herself.  Another time, at a barbecue, Sue was dangling uncooked sausages out of the flies of her trousers and then there were the legendary “Sex Education” talks she gave: from which teenage boys would emerge looking so scared and frightened that they probably never able to have sex their whole lives. Sue’s probably responsible for an entire generation of lads who will one day become 40 year old virgins.

Her family were lucky enough to know Sue the Wife, Sue the Mam and Sue the Grandma – I know that these ‘jobs’ were her proudest achievements. 

Sue really was one in a million and people like that don’t come along very often. Whilst she was with us she certainly made her mark on the world and I’m so sorry she was taken so soon, but I’m  so grateful that somebody like Sue was here at all.