Listen again - James and Braith

A family finds a way through a system that too often blocks the very basics. James and his son, Braith, talk candidly about becoming homeless, paying monthly to store the things that make a house feel like home, and the long wait for essential adaptations that would let Braith live safely and independently. Their story is grounded in the realities many people face right now: age-based housing criteria that don’t fit need, carers without bus passes in Greater Manchester, and the strain of choosing between a van to retrieve furniture and food for the week.

What shines is their resilience—and Hannah, the seizure-alert dog who changed everything. With a 20–30 minute warning window, medicine can be prepared and injuries averted, turning nine seizures a day into a few a month. We explore how a local affordable food hub and a partnership with Sale Moor Community Partnership helped them break the storage trap, secure white goods, and rebuild routines. Braith, a former award-winning sound designer, offers a moving lens on joy as a soundscape: the warmth of evening streets, the laughter of strangers, and the rare days when health, money, and transport align.

We also unpack the systems-level gaps that keep people indoors—slow adaptations, retrospective building costs, and funding promises that vanish—alongside the small interventions that make a big difference: neighbours who know your name, hubs close enough to walk to, and support that arrives when it’s actually needed. It’s a human story about access, dignity, and the power of community to turn coping into progress.

Subscribe for more honest, ground-level stories. Share this episode with someone working in housing, health, or local government, and leave a review to help others find it.

Transcript

Welcome & Mission of TBBT

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to a slice of bread and butter with Vic and Mark from the Bread and Butter Think. We're a charity that delivers affordable food to the heart of neighbourhoods to help nourish communities and act as a catalyst for change.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

We provide access to nutritious, affordable range of food, which means our members can save money on their shopping. They can feed their families healthily as well as accessing other support too, right in the heart of their communities.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

And this is where we meet and share a slice of life of somebody involved in bread and butter and hear about how they connect with us. And you're back, Vic. It's brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

I'm back.

Meet James and Braith

SPEAKER_00 0:44

So this is a really interesting one. These two are my favourite listens so far. So shall we have a listen to James and Braith?

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Yeah, let's do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

I'm James.

Homelessness and Storage Trap

SPEAKER_02 1:02

And I'm Braith, James's son.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

This is the second time I've been using bread and butter because initially I was using it with my dad, Braith's granddad, and that was when we first started around here quite a few years ago before COVID.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

And then just recently, me and Braith have moved back into the area, so Yeah, um we end up having to move in together when I was made homeless. Uh there's not enough uh adapted accommodation within Greater Manchester or UK as a whole, really. Ground floor flats are usually reserved for over 55, so younger, disabled people, people of less mobility, there's no housing for us.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

You're sort of out with the criteria.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Criteria for everything, exactly. My dad ended up becoming my full-time carer, also caring for my granddad. In temporary accommodations for about 18 months until we got this place, and it was through Sailmore Community Partnership because we had nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean we had everything because we did live in a house, but everything was in storage.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Been in temporary accommodations so long that our reserves had gone over that time, you know, on storage costs and things. So you were storage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yeah. By the end of the month, we couldn't afford a van to take the stuff out of storage because we'd paid for the storage. So we were in a cycle of it's not being able to afford food for myself, my dad, the dog.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

We didn't quite have enough to pay the storage and to get the stuff out of storage.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

But you have to pay the storage because it's a pill. But it was a horrific cycle. We it took us five months. We've only just become furnished now.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah, just got our stuff out. I mean, sale more community partnership helps.

Barriers to Accessible Housing

SPEAKER_02 3:06

That's what I'm saying. It was through Sale More Community Partnership that we wouldn't have been able to do that. We would have still been stuck going round and round.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Like we had a lot of difficulty when we first got our place. Um the month we moved in was the month that Trafford, the local council, took down the housing support grants.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Um so there was nothing, no white good help, no flooring help.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

This is after being promised all of the help pro there's still no adaptations to his flat. We moved in in May, and my dad still needs to help me shower because there are no handrails for me to cobble about.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

We've actually got and we've sourced our own, but we're not allowed to fit them.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Because otherwise we lose our shore tenancy we break our tenancy drink at ourselves. And I wish I was the only person saying this sort of thing, but you that's nearly any disabled person within Trafford. There's nothing they can do about it. There's money that they're promising people that they just don't have. It can be a real struggle, especially when you live in a s area like here. You know, um it's a council state, wonderful community here, but we don't have anything, we've not got any money. No, we'll live from going to things like bread and butter thing. The queue is all the way down the street, you know, to get in. We'll rely on the sale more community partnership. We wouldn't have a fridge or a cooker if it weren't for them. However, the cycle of homelessness works, right? We've got our flat, right? But we're still paying 400 a month on storage for our previous without the sale more community partnership. We wouldn't have got out of that cycle of it. Other people are still experiencing that, Jim. You know, there's still people going through that right now. Your charity as well. Like uh, we've gone this afternoon. Um it helped us when we had nothing else and we'd exhausted all other possibilities. That's the only way we can put it. Um and it's the same for everybody I talked to today. She might be alerting. Can we just pause for a second?

Community Support Lifelines

Hannah the Seizure-Alert Dog

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah, yeah, of course we can. So Hannah was whining in the background. Tell me about Hannah.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

She's uh my seizure alert dog. So she lets me and my dad know about 20 to 30 minutes before I have a seizure. Now she'll whine or come and noseboot me. So when I need my medicine. I was one of the first people in the UK to get a medicinal cannabis prescription. She gives the alert. My dad makes my medicine up, and and I don't have my seizure. We've gone from what was it, nine a day to about two, maybe three a month. And it's a massive change to our lives. She is a big dog, isn't she? She's a lovely dog, but she is a big dog. She's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

But uh she's staring me down right now.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Oh, yes. Oh, she knows she's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Yeah, so Hannah's like the size of an Alsatian, she's got a beautiful black coat like a Labrador, though. What is she?

SPEAKER_02 6:42

She is a full Alsatian.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

She's enjoying us talking about her now.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Well, we said Hannah too many times, and she's in there, so she can't come to us.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

What has she done for you?

SPEAKER_02 6:53

I can leave my home again without my dad. For years and years and years I was unable to do that. I was unable to take a bath because we were had no indication of when it was going to happen. She's actually crying now because I've not finished this and she knows that I need to.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

She's telling you off.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Exactly. I talk too much. I know, Hannah Dog, I talk too much.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Even if I'm not here, if you know a seizure has happened, first thing Hannah will do is go and try and nip brace leg.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

So yeah, she'll do chest compressions if uh I stop breathing. She'll put her entire weight on me. Chest compressions, give me nips, try and bring me round. If we could afford it, we'd be able to um hire a trainer if we'd help her learn how to load and unload the washer and dryer for us. Help me. Well, you wouldn't need to, you'll be out of a job, Dad. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

So it's even further independence, though.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

That's what that's what we're saying. Um she'd be able to open the doors for me ahead of time for my wheelchair, things like this.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Uh forgive me for asking this, but it it's she's a big girl, she needs feeding. Who who covers that cost?

Costs, Trade-offs, and “Luxuries”

SPEAKER_02 8:19

That's all covered by us. And it's absolutely worth it for what she does for us, but there have been times when we've gone out and bought her mints because you know we couldn't afford big bags of dog food at the time and bought her food and we had we split a packet of ramen or toast.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah. Yeah, it's another mouthfeed, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Um what would you say you have that you see as a luxury nowadays that everyday people, shall we say, would see as an as an essential?

SPEAKER_01 9:00

I have a granddaughter in Wales that would love to see more of her chain fairs, you know, these two of us on a chain. So we do it a little bit, as much as we can afford.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

So you do you feel more isolated?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

This is something me and my dad talk about uh a lot. So whenever we go out and we hear people laughing, or we've gone to the park, that is a massive achievement for us. And we've heard other people have fun and laughing, and we will talk about that. Can you hear the sound of people having fun?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

It's it's fascinating, Braith, actually, just watching you because you you are lighting up just saying that.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Well, it's something that you probably wouldn't notice when you go out because you might experience it all the time, and you're in your little group of friends, and you're laughing.

unknown 9:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Well, me and my dad are sometimes have only just managed to get out to go and sit somewhere because we can't afford to do anything, but sometimes we might be able to go and sit somewhere because I've got the energy and we've got enough uh like a bus ticket for my dad because travel isn't free in Manchester for cares.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

We got out to Fletcher Moss the other week, and uh it was really nice, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Right, and that is a normal thing. Yeah, yeah, a normal thing for somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

So Fletcher Moss from here is probably a bus ride, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah, well, it's a couple of buses, that that is just what makes it a little awkward, you know, with the dog and the chair, it is difficult, you know. But you see, it was good. Yeah, yeah, it was a good yeah, it was a good time, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

It's just something that people wouldn't really think about, the sound of other people having fun when you're out having fun. And that's something that you don't uh notice often, I guess. Uh especially if you've got the money to go out and be part of the people having fun. With people sitting listening to you, but that's enough sometimes, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Um that was a beautiful answer, right? Because that really does demonstrate the little things.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

You know, when we go out, everything has to align up. We have to do out the cash, we have to do have the health, we have to, you know.

Systemic Gaps and Resilience

SPEAKER_02 11:24

I can't just jump on the bus and go somewhere. My dad still has to come with me, and we might not have the cash for my dad to come with me. Yeah. Whereas sometimes we'll have the cash, but I don't have the health. Sometimes we'll have the cash and the health, but the public transport is too difficult to wrangle our way around. The trams are yeah, it's got a the planets have got to align for us to be able to do something, so we're in the house a lot of the time. You're out probably every day. How often does is that for me and you, you know, uh we'll go out and we have a conversation with somebody. I mean talk to anyone, right? We've got the opportunity, I will. It just doesn't happen often.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

I stayed much longer than I should have done because of Hannah, and I love dogs, and you know that.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

I was gonna say the dog.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

I have never met a more gorgeous Elsacian. She's pure black, and what a talent. But then they're just so lovely. James and Braith were really gorgeous people.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Yeah, you got that warm feeling from them, really genuine.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah, and heartfelt, and things you never think about. The the storage trap, who knew?

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Yeah, never crossed my mind. So strange that you've got all this stuff that you can't access, and then you're paying for it to be looked after, but then that means that you can't access it even more.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

It's just like a vicious circle. So once you're in temporary accommodation, that stuff's got to stay there or you lose it, right? Yeah. I mean, what else can you do?

SPEAKER_03 13:13

But the bits are the things that make home home, right? So if you've not got all of your things, that temporary accommodation probably feels even less like home.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Yeah, obviously it's not novel. It's clearly a common problem, but it it was just the first time anybody'd really talked to me about it.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

And then again, fit-for-purpose accommodation. We know that a lot of people that are struggling typically are disabled or have a disabled person in their family. There tends to be a link with disabilities and poverty. There's so many more people as a percentage that are in poverty in that set of circumstances. And again, that shouldn't be, should it?

SPEAKER_03 13:57

No. And I think fit-for-purpose accommodation, that feels like just a human right that you got the things that you need to be able to get around your own home. Especially as James and Braith were saying, that you know, carers don't get bus passes, so it's really tricky for them to get out, and then they've got to take the dog and all of the kit, and that means that you're in your house even more. So it's even a more reason to make it so it's right for you.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah. And I I've almost adopted their cause. I've been trying to help them get the flat accessible.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

You'll have a list of people writing to you now, Mark, saying, help me too.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Well, I'm I'm failing. I am failing, Vic. And it is a nine months waiting list for them to get a brand new flat fit for them to live in.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

There's something wrong with the system somewhere. That shouldn't be right.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

No, but it is, and I don't understand how it is. Surely, if you're gonna move somebody in, then it's ready to go. Basic economies, right? If you've got somebody in building something, you don't ask somebody else to come in after the event and make it accessible. It just adds more money.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Yeah. I guess they don't know who's going into it to make it right for them, so it's a retrospective thing every time. Yeah. But nine months is a lot, and James and Braith really sounded like they were putting a brave face on it. They didn't feel angry.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

No.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

They were just coping, they were marvelous at just dealing with the day-to-day. I mean, you saw that, I felt it.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

No, it it's that same thing that every single time the theme, Vic, talking to Alex on one of the previous podcasts, the underlying tone here with all of them is coping. Everybody's tolerance levels has just have to lift up more and more and more because there's more and more they're having to cope.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Yeah, we've got some really resilient members that deal with a lot and put such a smile on their face while they're doing so. It's admirable.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Well, smile. I mean, Braith was a sound engineer and he used to create sound effects for high-end video games and has won awards in the past for it. Wow. And um sadly, he, as part of his degenerative disease, ended up losing his high-quality ranges in his ears, and therefore he's lost his ability to do what he used to do. And some of the video games that he mentioned, you would have known them. Your kids would have played them, my kids would have played them.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

And that loss, that was his skill, that was it, his career gone.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

And yet he still uses it. So when he was talking with his dad and saying it's the laughter, and he was explaining to me the soundscape of a high street. They like to go out on a high street, and if you just go during the day, it's all really busy and hustle, and everybody just gotta get somewhere and get something done. But at night, it's warm, it's rich, there's laughter, there's pleasant conversation, there's engagement, sort of thing. And he was just like living in his world for a minute of soundscape, and it was just amazing the way he talked about it.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

I really thought it was amazing how he spoke about getting joy from other people's joy.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

That was really heartfelt.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

It was tough to listen to.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

But what a guy.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Oh, phenomenal. Slight segue. Did they uh say that they got joy from the bread and butter hub?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Um, they did, and they do like going out for it, but it's again, it's one of our qualities, I guess. It's because it's close, so there's no buses involved.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

They can walk down the high street to it, they know everybody there. We partner with Sailmore Community Partnership in their area, and Jamie and the team at Sailmore are really looking after them, so that it all works, and we fit in their lives like that. So, yes, and I had some out-of-date frozen meat that I was taking home for my blue that I shared with Hannah. So I I took joy from that as well, being able to feed Hannah.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

We need to tell everyone that blue is your dog.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Blue is my dog, and he's enormous. So he's seven months old and he's 37 kilos already. So I'm not looking forward to a fully grown blue.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

He's beautiful though.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

He is.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

I'm surprised you didn't nick Hannah and bring back a friend for blue.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Do you know a Hannah and Blue puppy wouldn't go amiss in my world?

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Okay. We'll keep that a secret for now.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

So if you'd like to know more about the bread and butter thing and what we get up to, you can find us at TeamTBBT on Instagram and Twitter. Alex also tells me that we're on TikTok now. We're also on LinkedIn and online at breadandbutterthing.org.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

And if you've got any feedback or thoughts on the podcast, you can get in touch with us by email at podcast at breadandbutterthing.org.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

And we're always open to new members at all of our hubs. So if you or someone you know would benefit from an affordable food scheme, you can find your nearest hub on the Become a Member page.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

And please do all of those things that podcasts ask you to do. Like us, subscribe, leave us a review, share us with your friends, and chat about us on social.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

So we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Great, see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Thank you, because nodding doesn't really work on audio. See ya.