Most of the Positive Connections jobs we end up doing come to us by word of mouth. Someone we’ve already helped mentions it to a friend, and a week or two later the phone goes. That’s how we met Barry in Saltash.

His friend Bob lives opposite him. We’d fitted a ceiling fan at Bob’s place a while before, free of charge, and he passed the message on. Barry told us Bob’s advice was pretty direct: “Look Barry, you wanna get this, I had it done for free, if you phone them they’ll most likely get one done for you.”

Barry’s in a similar position to Bob. Climbing a set of steps to fit something overhead isn’t an option for either of them, which is where a job like this stops being a simple bit of DIY and starts being something that just doesn’t get done. A fan keeps the room cool and comfortable, and the fact that it does it at the pull of a cord, without anyone needing to get up and sort it out, is a good part of the reason Barry wanted one.

So we went over and fitted a ceiling fan with a built in light in Barry’s living room.

It’s worth saying that swapping a light for a fan isn’t the same job as swapping one light for another. A pendant simply hangs there, whereas a fan puts a constant load on the fixing and will find any weakness over time, so the fixing has to be right before anything else happens. The wiring at the ceiling point gets checked properly too, because older properties throw up all sorts, and anything that needs attention is dealt with before the new fitting goes up. Once it’s in, it’s tested for speeds, light, wobble and noise. A fan that rattles in a quiet front room is a fan that gets switched off and never used again.

The fan went on the existing lighting point, and because it has a light built in, Barry’s got the ceiling light and the fan from the one fitting.

What stuck with us was what he said afterwards: “For you guys to come and say that will get this free, as far as I’m concerned, is fantastic. Nice people doing good work.”

That’s what Positive Connections is for. We’re based in Newquay, but we cover a fair bit of ground, and if someone elderly or vulnerable needs electrical work doing and can’t manage it or can’t afford it, we’d rather turn up and sort it than let them go without. No charge and no catch. If you know someone in Barry’s position, do what Bob did and tell them.