A bad year for Barry

THE devastating floods of last October heralded a nightmare 12 months for Uckfield resident Barry Sheraton.

Not only did the deluge destroy everything on the ground floor of his Olives Meadow house, but it also wrote off two cars, one of which was a classic Lotus Elan.

Then, in August, the 57-year-old lost his job when his employers TR Fastenings announced a round of redundancies. And to top off his misery, Barry s beloved dog Diana lost a leg after suffering a brain tumour.

Barry said: We had nothing left. When the insurance assessors came to look at the house they said that we had to get rid of everything downstairs because of the contamination.

It s a difficult feeling to describe. You really can t bear to throw things away, things like a brand new leather sofa. But in the end you have to because they begin to smell.

We had just got to the point where everything was coming right, but you know at the end of the day it s got to go. You don t realise how long it normally takes to do up a house. When you redecorate it takes years.

Then I was made redundant after 24 years. I d just spent 4,000 on a flood door. I can t afford it but then again, I can t afford not to.

Barry, who is married to Lesley, added: We were supposed to move out into rented accommodation after the floods but because we had an old dog we didn t. She has never been in kennels and the move would have killed her. Unfortunately, she suffered a tumour and had to have a leg off. She s 14 and it was awful for her.