The Link Sheffield: Stradbroke community hero Helen Eadon surprised by Denise Welch on BBC's The One Show

Helen Eadon has run The Link Community Hub on Stradbroke Drive in Stradbroke, Sheffield, for the last decade. Having started as a second-hand shop, the venue has become a lifeline for the neighbourhood, providing fresh food and other essentials to those who would otherwise go without, and bringing people together at the various events it hosts.

It has stepped up to meet the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis, offering people a place to keep warm and distributing blankets, hot water bottles and thermals to help them through the winter. That’s why it was nominated for a One Big Thank You, with one of Helen’s favourite celebrities, the Coronation Street and Waterloo Road actress Denise Welch, heading down to The Link to surprise her.

The segment which aired on BBC One on Thursday, March 23, at around 7.15pm, featured testimonials from some of the many people to whose lives Helen has made such a difference. One resident, Mark Bingham, described her as a ‘rock’, adding: “Without Helen, there would be no community. That spirit would be dead.”

What difference have Helen and others at The Link made to their community in Sheffield?

Another resident, Chris Brady, told how he started going around five years ago, having had a stroke, and he would be ‘lost without it’. A third resident, Steven Trevor, praised Helen’s work, saying the area would be ‘really messed up’ if it was not for everything she does. Richard Campos, a friend of Helen’s, said: “If it wasn’t for people like Helen, a lot of people would suffer. She will go as far as is possible to get whatever is needed for the people who need it.”

Helen’s daughter, Ellie, described how The Link sees people who are living off as little as £20 a week and her mum had realised it was needed to help those people and ‘bring a bit of community spirit back to the area’.

Helen thought she was being interviewed for a news feature but mid-interview Ellie dropped in with a bag of donations, which included several books signed by Denise Welch. The actress then rang a mobile hidden within the bag and Helen got a huge shock when she realised who was on the other end. Denise Welch said ‘thank you for making such a difference to your community’, before the pair shared a warm embrace.

Helen was led outside where friends were waiting to greet her and she was able to watch messages of thanks from people she has helped and from The One show presenter Alex Jones and Line of Duty actor Martin Compston, who called her a ‘pillar of the community’, adding ‘the world needs more Helens’. Still stunned, Helen said: “It’s overwhelming. I’m literally lost for words, which doesn’t happen very often.”

What is The Link Community Hub and where in Sheffield is it based?

The Link Community Hub opened in 2013 and the charity is run by volunteers and community workers. It runs youth groups and drop-in sessions, a food bank and much more, as well as offering free advice and doing outreach work around Stradbroke.

The Star reported last autumn how it was opening a ‘community flat’ where anyone was free to go to stay warm, get a hot shower, wash their clothes and use the WiFi, at no cost. Helen told at the time how it had been set up as people were worrying how they would survive the winter. "I never thought I would see such extreme poverty in my area,” she said.

The Link recently received a £4,900 grant from the Yorkshire West Riding Freemasons to help it continue its work to support those most in need.