Tom Smith is 34 years old, and is married to his wife, Dawn. Tom
and Dawn have been arguing a lot lately.
They have 3 children, aged 13, 9
and 3.
Tom has been unemployed for 6 months and is looking for
work. As a result, most of the family’s
income comes from benefits. Recently,
Tom spotted an advert in his local paper from a college looking to recruit
students to retrain as care workers. Tom
is interested in applying, but is worried about how it will be paid for, and
how he will manage the work.
Tom and his family live on a housing estate where there are
high levels of unemployment.
Tom’s parents live only a few streets away, and often pop
by. They help themselves to whatever is
in the fridge.
Tom’s dad, Joe, smokes a lot, and his health appears to be
worsening as a result. He drinks
heavily, too. Like Tom he is unemployed. Tom’s Mum, Anna, recently retired due to
aches and pains arising from arthritis.
As a result, she finds it hard to be on her feet all day. Tom’s Mum brought Tom up to be a Roman Catholic;
however he no longer attends church or confession, and fact that she
disapproves of. She tries to take the 3 grand-children
regularly. This causes friction between
Dawn and Anna, as Dawn has never attended church, and does not understand why
Anna is so keen on it.
Tom belongs to the local darts team. He goes to the pub every Saturday night, with
his mates and either a Tuesday or Wednesday night depending on Dawn’s work and
the darts matches. Dawn is unhappy that
it is every Saturday night and often moans about it to Tom, but also on the
phone to her Mum in front of the kids.
