Episode 4 The Mount: A Welsh Estate

Milford Haven on the Pembrokeshire coast.

And this is the Mount Estate.

For the last year we've been following the lives of the people who live here.

It's typical of the council estates

which were built during the 60s and 70s.

They all followed an American design,

which meant roads were kept to perimeters

and homes were facing shared areas with no individual gardens.

This week Simone goes for her job interview.

It seems a good company and I like what they do

so fingers crossed in the future it'll be all right.

Dai Jones' five-year-old granddaughter hits the road.

She's a proper Jones now, she brought the police home.

And Jo tries to deal with her chronic alcoholism.

The Mount was built in the early 1970s but the town of Milford Haven

has a much older history and a lot of it is to do with the sea.

It's Pembrokeshire Fish Week

and in Milford Haven the annual festival is a reminder of the days

when this harbour served a fleet of more than 200 fishing boats.

Hi, it's me, love, fish week has just started this minute.

Jane from The Mount is going to get a pet portrait taken

of her dog Tiggy.

Tiggy is very photogenic -

a few months ago Jane won £100

for a photo of Tiggy published in a national magazine.

Sit. Sit.

TOY SQUEAKS

I think I'll do me face up next year if you're here

and I'll have a photo taken with her I think.

All right, look at that, that's good, isn't it?

We're going to have a hard job choosing.

On The Mount, Milford Haven's maritime history

is remembered in other ways too.

This is the home of Eurof and Gina.

Eurof works at the local oil refinery

but he's off at the moment with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

He's keen to get back to work

but being at home has meant lots of time to spend on his hobby.

It's really nice, nice and shiny.

It does show the work that's gone into it

and um, here we are.

-Here we are.

-Thank you.

Bringing you the two o'clock tea.

What are you doing?

You've got the rigging that comes up to foremast table

which the men used to climb up.

810 men on board ship

and the average man was five foot five.

-They weren't very tall then, were they?

-Nope.

-Mind, he wasn't very big, was he, Nelson?

-Nope.

No, he wasn't.

18 years ago Eurof and Gina were hoping for a council house,

not necessarily on The Mount.

We had the five children at home with us then,

so we were seven to house, it was quite a large family to find

accommodation for and she said, I haven't got a four bedroom house

but with the screens you could manage and we saw where it was,

we thought, "Oh, it's up The Mount, I don't want to go up The Mount,

"I've heard stories about The Mount."

So he said, "Well, we'll have to go and look at it

"because if we don't look we could end up at the back of the queue again."

So all right, it was a house that we could literally just move in to

and he said, "Wwhat do you think?" It seemed quite quiet up here

so I said, "Well, we can always put in for a swap

"if we don't like it," but 18 years on we're still here.

We're lucky cos we have got a post office here with Alison and Steve.

Unless it closes.

-No, we're not going to let that close. Good Lord!

-Let's hope not.

No, you got to fight for things like that.

There is a Mount Association here

but it doesn't seem to reach out to everyone, does it?

No. No.

I don't know what happened, we used to have little newsletters round.

The grapevine, I used to call it and that used to come round, didn't it?

-Not for a long time.

-No, they stopped doing that.

The Resource Centre is the only communal meeting place

left on the estate.

17-year-old Sammy has popped in to see some friends and their new baby.

She's unemployed.

I haven't really been looking.

I haven't really been looking really, I'm just

coming down here and doing bits and bobs and same old usual every day.

But then if I really wanted a job I'd just go down the Job Centre

and get one there or look on the internet or summat.

She lives with her fiance, Flanders, and his family.

He proposed nearly a year ago.

On my birthday in the bedroom!

He went on his hands and knees and said, "Will you marry?"

And I said yeah and that was it!

And then he put the ring on and I just fell asleep!

In the woods below The Mount,

the Resource Centre runs training schemes for the unemployed and for young people.

Flanders and Sammy are both volunteers.

12-year-old Cameron has a placement

on the woodland scheme two days a week. He'd rather be here than at school.

-What we doing with the logs?

-I dunno.

-The charcoal burner.

Keeps me out of trouble. I used to always get in trouble.

-What we doing now, then?

-Well, I'm going to the farm.

-Can I come?

-You can't.

I bet you any money he'll say yeah. I bet he'll say yeah.

Whatever.

She just argues with me every single day.

-He's my cousin, my favourite cousin.

-Don't kiss me on camera, mate!

I went to loads of schools but I got kicked out of all of them and then

I just started this then, but then I got told if I really wanted to

go back to college to do hair and beauty

I could go back to college and do hair and beauty.

I go to school for like three days and I'm down here for two days.

You're out and about here more than you're in the classes

cos it does get boring in school

and then you just want to play up more, don't you?

That's what I was doing when I was in school.

This is Jo, a year ago when we first met her.

She's an alcoholic whose children are in care

but she's determined to get over her drinking problem.

I'm keeping this diary to make sure that they know how much I'm drinking and how much I've cut down,

cos I have cut down loads,

cos I want my children and that's how it's going to work.

Ten months later.

Although a residential rehabilitation programme was discussed,

it hasn't happened, so Jo's taken matters into her own hands.

With the help of her new boyfriend,

she's gone nine days without a drink.

That's not bad, that. It's all right, like, that.

They told me, end of May, beginning of June they'd send me to rehab.

And they haven't done no good to me whatsoever.

They owe me two weeks in Cardiff and 16 weeks in Bridgend.

Since then I couldn't wait any longer.

So I've locked myself into a friend's house

and I did nine days without alcohol,

without anything, without any help whatsoever and I feel brilliant.

I have had the odd drink today

because I've been stressed out with my mother and my children but I'm OK.

I'm doing all right.

Jo's going to see her caseworkers at Prism,

a local organisation that works with alcoholics.

I did nine days all by myself without any medication or anybody else's help

and I said I wasn't going to be in rehab over Christmas.

Hopefully I'll get to see the kids a lot more and, yeah,

it's not really a problem with me any more.

It helps with your boyfriend too, he's not drinking.

And I'm quite content to sit around with him and not get drunk.

HORN BEEPS

She's going to tell the caseworkers that she thinks she's doing quite well now.

Thank you!

Ta-ra.

He did mention that any downfall I might have might lead me back to drinking heavy.

But I'm in control of it.

As far as I'm concerned it's all down to me now.

As long as I've got my goals to carry on which is my children and...

You know, I'll be all right then.

Things are looking up for Jane's daughter, Simone.

Over the last three months she's applied for dozens of jobs locally

with no success, but now at last she's got an interview.

Erm, it's a telesales associate... or executive. It's one of them.

And it's to do with, basically you're working for a magazine

that sells advertising space to different companies.

She's not pinning all her hopes on this, though.

She's applying for a job in Cumbria where her boyfriend Pete lives.

But that'd mean moving away from her mother who's recovering from a heart attack she had seven months ago.

And then I sat down with her and I was like,

"If something does turn up in Cumbria are you actually all right with me going?"

And she was like, "Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I be?"

And I said, "Well, you don't seem to be talking a lot about it."

Part of me actually thinks she'd rather me be further away,

because in a way then I'm not bossing her around.

Two - I'm not nicking her space.

And she likes her personal space, she's the same as me.

And three is kind of, she's used to that now

and she's not used to me actually being at home.

And then there's part of me that's kind of worried that the whole reason

she's doing that is she's just happy to go back to the way she was.

I've already said to her that her smoking's got bad again and her eating's got bad again

and we had again another massive bust-up the other week.

-See you later.

-I'll see you later on then. Good luck.

-Okey-dokey, thank you.

Don't be nervous.

Yeah, it seemed really nice. They seemed lovely.

It's going to be a weird situation cos obviously

I've got the other interview as well but it seems a good company and I like what they do,

so fingers crossed in the future, it'll be all right.

Roughly 70% of adults living on The Mount are unemployed.

For a few of them, alcohol addiction is a big problem.

Lee is one of these people.

He's been unemployed for 14 years and this is a typical day for him.

He's been desperately trying to get on a home detox programme.

Welcome...

LOUD MUSIC PLAYS

The local health board claim that nobody is presently waiting for a home detox programme.

And that waiting times would not exceed two to four weeks.

Yeah, it's been a typical day for us.

Started to drink at 9 o'clock this morning.

FRIEND SINGS ALONG TO MUSIC

At the moment I can't see an end to it.

I want to end by obviously not dying.

I want to end drinking so I can get back to normal.

That's all I know.

The daily routine at Stacey's house starts with the arrival of her niece, Megan.

Stacey and her husband, Roger are in the minority on the estate as they both work.

Do that again!

Their two boys are particularly excited this morning cos it's the last day of term.

Tomorrow the summer holidays start.

All right, let's go.

Stacey doesn't drive so she walks the children to school every morning.

A journey of two miles there and back.

At midday she does it again to help with the lunchtime supervision.

And later on she make the trip a third time to bring the children home again.

She deserves a bit of a sit down.

The family have booked a holiday in a resort hotel in Turkey later on in the summer.

-That slide then you got to buy your own rubber rings...

-No.

-..or do they supply them?

-They supply them.

-So you've got the multi-lane slide...

-Yeah.

-..which is that one.

-You've got the tube slide... Tube slides...

-Right, yeah.

That's the ones you can use the rubber dinghies and everything with.

Their neighbour, Dai Jones, won't be going away this year as he's recovering from a stroke,

though he's been suffering from ill-health for years.

But I've been on the mend now for something like 12 years!

So it's a slow process.

This is Di's five-year-old granddaughter, Brooke.

And she likes nothing better than riding about on granddad's mobility scooter.

Unfortunately that's illegal.

My granddaughter was out on my bug and she got reported for whatever reason.

And the police called to her. And they went to talk to her.

And as they got to her, she pressed the lever and took off.

And the police had to run after her.

I was laughing cos they reckon it turned into a full high-speed pursuit.

She took off and she came straight back here.

She doesn't know that she had to stop for the police!

They saw the funny side of it, mind. Fair play.

I can't understand why she can't ride on it.

Most of the kids round here, they've got quads, they've got little electric Jeeps.

Most of them faster than that. But according to Police, the quads and Jeeps and all are toys,

and this isn't classed as a toy.

So...never mind,

I'll convert it into a little go-kart or something for her.

I'll turn it into a toy.

Over at Eurof and Gina's, Gina keeps herself busy with cooking, knitting and drawing.

But eight months after the injury to his Achilles tendon,

Eurof is still off work, and he's had enough of being at home all day.

-I've been going back and forth to the gym...

-Yeah.

..and I'm getting a lot better.

I've got control of my shoulders now,

so I'm going to the hospital again for physio.

Yeah, so how does that make you feel about work?

Well, I may go back, I don't know yet.

Depends how I get on with the physio

up at the hospital.

Mentally, I don't think you're ready to just retire and be home cos

-it gets on your nerves when you're here all day, every day, doesn't it?

-Yeah, sometimes.

In other words, I do.

Jo's back drinking with her friend Lee.

They both want help for their addictions

but statistics show that they could be waiting for two years.

Gotta have a bit of squash with it.

Cos it's a bit harsh when you drink it,

-it just kills the taste, sweetens it up a bit.

-Takes the edge off it.

-Yeah, cos it is bloomin' horrible, really.

-Bloomin'! Bloomin' horrible.

I don't want to swear.

White cider - I'd have about six litres a day.

-You usually drink brown cider, don't you?

-Sometimes, I mix and match.

Which is like 5.3 or something.

That's 11 units for a bottle of Strongbow. It's 22...

22.5 in one bottle of three litres, white cider.

-But the three litre gets your head back to normal, like.

-Which is 5.28 pints.

Thank you very much.

They said to me, "How many units do you drink a week?"

And when I first started to go to Prism, it was over 330-odd.

Safe-level, not even safe, but you've got to get down to

150 a week before they can detox you and I got down to 170 the last time.

-Do you actually keep your drink diary?

-Yeah.

I was doing it for a while but I found I was getting

so much to the point I was doing every little unit...

measuring a half cup then thinking hang on, I need a half-pint glass, so I know where I'm at.

And I found I just got worse then as I was trying to keep track of it.

-Cos I was having proper measurements. Oh, my God!

-Dodgy, I know.

I thought, this is not right so I.... It was awful.

My partner died in January. She took an accidental overdose of morphine.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Yeah, yeah.

-She was only 30 as well.

-Who, Emma?

-Yeah, yeah, died.

She was in that much pain with her ankle and that...

She had arthritis, her body was crippling up on her.

And she's had other problems that I don't want to go into.

She got depressed a little bit.

She took some extra medicine and died in her sleep.

I got a young son. He lives with his nan down the bottom.

Nan and stepdaughter. They're both down with their nan.

Cos I'm a drinker I won't go for rights cos I don't reckon

I should have rights if I'm on the...all the time.

I've never worked since I moved to Milford.

I used to work when I lived in Merthyr.

That's going back to the 1990s.

My dad, he's dead as well.

He died of alcoholism.

Yep.

I moved down for my dad but me and him used to drink all the time.

I watched him die in hospital as well.

He went green in all his body and it was game over.

-That must have been awful.

-I had to suffer for a week watching him die

and I couldn't do nothing about it.

Shortly after filming, Lee collapsed

and was rushed into hospital with alcohol-related problems.

Jo continues her struggle with alcoholism.

Stacey's taken the two boys to visit her father in Kent

for a fortnight and while they're away, Roger's going to be busy.

Plan this week - I've taken the skirting board off earlier

and a new skirting board coming tomorrow. And a dado rail.

Stripping this.

A dado rail and a skirting board for the dining room in the outhouse.

Carpets and lino coming a week Saturday.

I've got to say, the best thing about the last week -

I can watch what I like on telly.

This is what the room was designed on - to match these curtains.

Find out now.

Yeah, they're needed, aren't they?

She said it was purple. Oh, there's purple in it. Yeah, purple.

Black.

Then that's...

silvery. Matches... yeah. She's clever, ain't she?!

There's a celebration on the Mount tonight. Sammy's 18th birthday.

They'll all be off to the pub soon, but first,

Sammy's got something she wants everyone to see.

You want to see my balloon! I love my balloon.

Have you see my balloon?

Carla, go and get my balloon from the living room.

-Ah, my balloon's stunning.

-I saw it. It's big.

-It is, isn't it?!

-I haven't seen it.

No!

Get Shelly-Ann and Jess and Kirsty and Sammy!

Carla!

Also invited to the party is Sammy's future mother-in-law, Sarah Brown.

May as well just say, look, we're one big family.

It's like one big family.

Can I ask what you're doing?! Can I ask what you're doing?!

Even if I won the lottery, I would never ever leave them.

We'll slowly walk down!

Make sure you close the door and keep the dogs in!

# Don't tell my heart

# My achy breaky heart

# I just don't think he'd understand... #

Everyone agrees. The party's a great success.

Stacey's back from Kent

and Roger awaits her verdict on all his hard work.

Ah, he's done a wonderful job, hasn't he?

It's really good.

He worked hard while we were away, he really did.

It's like a revamped house!

Completely revamped.

It's lovely.

We're going to Turkey. We're going for 14 nights.

So it's a water park we're going to.

It's called Splashes, a new complex. It's only been open a few months.

We've normally arranged it about every two years.

Sometimes we have left it a bit longer.

We went two years ago and we went to Turkey then.

We went to a holiday village.

Iron and the hairdryer.

Can't wait! Counting down.

Hello, trouble!

Brook's now on two wheels after being banned

from riding on the mobility scooter.

Oh, she's a character anyway.

The trouble is how do you explain to a five-year-old

that she's not allowed to go on it any more, you know?

What have we got out here?

Bet there we are. The law says no so very disappointed little Brooky.

-Do you go fast on my bug?

-Yeah.

And... where do you go fast?

-Everywhere.

-Around the corners?

-Yes!

-Down the hills?

-Yes.

-Passed people's front doors?

-Yes.

-Down the shop?

-Yeah.

She's a proper Jones now. She brought the police home!

Cos all the girls have brought them here

at sometime or other through something silly!

But now she's a proper Jones!

Jane's daughter, Simone, has found a job, but not a local one.

I've had a phone call today eventually saying I've been accepted

for a job in the Swan Hotel in Cumbria

and that's for a bar and waitress job

and it's not exactly what I would have loved at the minute

and I just can't believe after 56 applications...you know,

and even then, the only thing I managed to get is because

we knew people in the hotel.

You know, I managed to know about the application

because it was through Pete's old boss

and I think it's really brought it home

that it's not about what you know, it's who you know.

Simone's going to miss her old home.

And who knows?

Maybe she'll miss The Mount too.

It will be strange without her.

But...

just one of those things you've got to get used to, isn't it?

I can always go up there.

There's ways and means. So I'll go and up and annoy her.

Make a mess of her place.

Leave the kitchen untidy, burn the toast!

And get me own back!

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