Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 2. 7th March 1973

Flowers on the Mantlepiece

Flowers on the Mantlepiece

These two houses owned by Todd Motors were taken over and settled in by some of these alcoholics who, as they put it ". . . have had enough of the church Arnold, and all the other patronising bastards, who look down their rich noses at us". Although the houses seemed more suitable for demolition than for living in, the men who stay there have improved them beyond recognition. These houses have provided the alcoholics with an opportunity to help themselves, to show people that alcoholics are not just outcasts from the community to be forgotten and disregarded. Two of the rooms have carpet on the floor, fresh paint on the walls, and flowers on the mantle piece. There is still much that needs to be done to make the houses completely habitable, but what they have achieved by themselves is a start.