Cynffig Technology

Introduction

DIY SOS is a programme which is frequently aired on BBC1 and has been running for over 20 years.

It centres on a group of tradesmen, women and designers who travel all around the United Kingdom and carry out very large home renovations and transformations.

Often the work they do is for people (and families) who have profound disabilities or who have experienced a life changing event. These people desperately need help and many local tradesmen and tradeswomen volunteer to help join in and get thee project finished.

The programme showcases some of the wonderful work that can be done when people work together for the benefit of others.

It is also the perfect programme to view if you want to learn about real-life construction projects as it exposes the actual life and events that happen on a construction site.

Enjoy...

DIY SOS, Series 22, The Big Build Aberystwyth.mp4

Series 22. Aberystwyth

Nick Knowles and the team enlist the help of the local community in Aberystwyth to renovate a home for a builder with a brain tumour. Michael Saunders built an extension onto his house when his son- in-law's MS meant he had to start using a wheelchair. When Michael discovered he had cancer, he was unable to finish his own home and he and his partner were left living in a cold and draughty shell of a house.

DIY SOS, Series 25, The Big Build Cumbria.mp4

Series 25. Cumbria

Rob and Michelle Wall bought a small 18th-century house as a renovation project, but had to stop work when their son Noah was born with spina bifida and only two per cent of his brain. The house is unfinished, cold, unsafe and not suitable for Noah's needs. Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS team call on the local community and Charlie Luxton to help turn this house into a home for an amazing little boy.

DIY SOS, Series 30, The Big Build Plymouth.mp4

Series 30. Plymouth

In Plymouth, the team help the Morfey family: Chris and Tara, 24-year-old Ben, 25-year-old Josh, twins Jess and Yazz (15) and their little brother Vinny (9). Both Ben and Josh suffer from cerebral palsy, and after struggling in a multi-level home in Plymouth - and without enough funds to make it disabled friendly - the family have sold up and bought a cheap, old iron forge that, when renovated, will provide single-storey living in the Plymouth countryside.

The family have been living in an on-site caravan while Chris has worked tirelessly to build a bedroom extension for all the family. But disaster struck when daughter Yazz was diagnosed with leukaemia and needed life-saving treatment miles away in Bristol – supported by mum Tara. A year later, their home remains half-built. They have no heating, hot water, kitchen or living space, and dad Chris can’t get back to work to pay for the build to be completed without Tara at home to care for the family. If they can’t build a clean, dry and warm house, not only will severely disabled Ben remain in residential care away from his beloved brother Josh but Tara and Yazz won’t be able to return home to finish Yazz's treatment with the family by her side.

They are all struggling mentally, emotionally and physically, and now son Vinny has developed a heart murmur from the stress of being separated from his mum and living on a building site.

To put this family back together and give their disabled boys as much independence as possible, as well as provide a suitable space where Yazz can recover from cancer, the team will need to do something quite different from any build they have done so far: they will need to convert a forge built back in the 1700s into an open-plan kitchen, living zone and medical storage area, while retaining the charm and heritage of this unusual building.

DIY SOS, Series 31, The Big Build Barnstaple

Series 31. Barnstaple

Jan and Lucy have five wonderful kids: Hadley, Kenneth and triplet daughters Lola, Daisy and Amber. Complications before the triplets were born have left two of them living with nephrotic syndrome, a disease that causes kidney failure and requires them to have 70 hours of dialysis each week. The nearest hospital that offers the service they need is a four-hour round trip away, and with the girls scheduled for treatment on different days, it means Jan and Lucy are constantly in the car driving to and from the hospital. As a result, family life is suffering. But help is on hand as the DIY SOS team along with designer Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and hundreds of local volunteers arrive to extend the family home to create a home dialysis centre, enabling the girls to be treated where they live and the whole family to settle into a healthy and happier routine.

DIY SOS, Series 31, The Big Build Scunthorpe.mp4

Series 31. Scunthorpe

Tragedy has been a part of life for Caroline Blanchard and her children Reece and Paige. Caroline has twice had to make the heart-wrenching decision to turn off life support for people she loves, first in 2007 after her daughter Natasha suffered severe head injuries in an accident in their garage, and then four years later after husband Paul had a heart attack in their conservatory.

DIY SOS, Series 31, The Big Build Weston-super-Mare.mp4

Series 31. Weston Super Mare

The Sweet family in Weston-super-Mare are happy and truly inspirational in their close-knit community. Louisa (14), Max (11) and Harry (6) were born healthy, and family life was good until Harry was diagnosed with a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. He is significantly hypermobile and suffers terrible pain in his joints, unsettled sleep and chronic constipation as part of his condition. He is also being assessed for autism.

The family had been struggling with Harry’s health issues for three years when, in 2017, after genetic testing, Louisa and Max were diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia, a rare and life-limiting neurodegenerative condition for which there is currently no treatment or cure. It will see them become permanent full-time wheelchair users in their teens, and it may affect their speech, fine motor skills and vision. They also have enlarged hearts and spinal scoliosis, and suffer fatigue as part of their condition, but like Harry they are children to be truly admired. Amazingly, Max, who is also being assessed for autism, has stated that if he dies he wants to donate his organs to save other children, but his mother Cat just can’t face filling in the forms.

Cat can no longer lift the children in and out of the bath or carry them up the stairs. Louisa and Max only manage the stairs by carefully and painfully crawling on all fours, which takes considerable time and effort. Both of the boys are already part-time wheelchair users, and their tiny home will soon have to accommodate three wheelchairs.

All three children now struggle with basic normal life at home, unable to undertake simple tasks without help, and with Louisa rapidly losing her teenage independence instead of gaining it, despite the immense love and care from their inspirational parents Cat and Chris, DIY SOS and kind local volunteers are stepping up to help this truly deserving family.