Angela Riley

When you can trace your family – in the same village – going back over centuries, you can really call yourself a local. That's how Angela Riley feels. She has lived in Corbridge, Northumberland, all her life and reckons she knows just about everybody.

Thanks to Milecastle Housing Association, Angela has been able to stay in the village despite facing serious housing problems.

Three years ago she had a leg amputated and alongside coping with disability, she had to figure out how she would manage at home. Her house was completely unsuitable.

"I was living downstairs, sleeping in the dining room," she says. "I had to go to my brother’s for a bath. And the place was so small. I was getting depressed."

Milecastle was building a new development in Corbridge, with Housing Corporation funding. It adapted a new flat for Angela, including everything from wide doors to a special shower and light switches, and now she can do everything for herself.

As she hasn’t had to move far, her friends are still able to pop round as often as they did before. "It’s made such a difference," she says. "And everyone in the block is good neighbours, and because the flats are well insulated you don’t get any noise."