Deacon Blue's Lorraine McIntosh speaks in Big Issue about homelessness

BIG ISSUE magazine has interviewed Lorraine McIntosh, of mainstream hitmakers Deacon Blue, where she recounts her own experiences of homelessness. She told the Big Issue, "My mum had died years before, and my dad just didn't cope. He drank too much, didn't pay the rent and we were evicted. The council waited until I turned 18 - we were put out a week later. I got a phone call from a social worker saying I wasn't to go home, as dad had been evicted. I was at the bus stop with my friend, but couldn't get on the bus. She phoned her mum and I ended up staying with them at first. No clothes, no nothing. We lost everything. It just got put in the street. And the saddest thing was I lost all my mum's things, her clothes, wee bits of jewellery, all put on the street. Gone." McIntosh's experience with homelessness continues to inform her worldview. Last year, she became an advocate for Simon Community Scotland's Nightstop campaign. The programme places people aged 16 to 25 in a safe and warm home for the night, provided by a vetted and approved volunteer.