A London fashion designer who became homeless is getting her life back on track after moving into the innovative housing pods project in Newquay.

Beverley Stratford-Johns, who lives at the SoloHaus scheme in Tregunnel Hill, has started to design again and is enjoying creating hats and headbands after staff from Harbour Housing sourced her a sewing machine.

She has also had the opportunity to access educational courses, including photography and a vehicle maintenance course, which was completed at Camborne College. The certification has resulted with Bev, offering a vehicle check workshop on a regular basis to all Harbour Housing staff.

Bev said: “I am grateful for all of the support that I have received through Harbour Housing and the opportunity to be able to embrace my passion of designing.”

Bev started off life as a manageress of a fashion boutique in Devon after being taught to sew at an early age by her mother. In this role she would attend the Earls Court Fashion Week, and it was here where she made a connection with a stall holder, who ran a business at the hip Kensington market, and offered Bev a job.

It was during this time that Bev’s new employer was dating up and coming, singer Boy George. After joining the music scene and seeing bands in London clubs, Bev was inspired to make her unique style of clothes, and after receiving many compliments, she began taking orders as a sideline to her job on the market stall.

Those designs drew inspiration from David Bowie, whose constant evolving and embrace of avant-garde aesthetics with a flair for the theatrical was in demand. Bev and her best friend invested £50 each (a small fortune at the time) to start their own business venture making clothes derived from thrift shop purchases and material sourced on market stalls to upcycle into their unique designs.

Speed was of the essence in the ever-changing fashion world of the 1970’s and as neither could drive they would transport their designs in suitcases on the tube to sell on stalls at Portobello, Kings Road, Camden, and Kensington markets.

Now earning £400 a day, and their designs selling as quickly as they could make them, they decided it was time for a more permanent stall with a glass front at Kensington Market that they named Movement and soon they were employing workers to help keep up with demand.

Spotting her keen eye for fashion design Peter Small, a local entrepreneur, offered Bev a job as a designer at his Kings Road shop called Street Theatre. She joined five other designers in the workshop.

Just a few doors along were Vivienne Westwood’s 1950’s themed shop, let its Rock, that became a magnet for bands and musicians looking for inspiration. Vivienne quickly supplemented the stock with her own designs, created in a shared workshop space with Bev’s shop allowing her and the other designers to witness first-hand what the future Queen of punk was conjuring up.

Another future pop icon Boy George who had just started out in the music business worked as a window dresser at Peter Small’s shop and later Small supported the future Culture Club lead singer and one of Bev’s fellow designers designed the Culture Club’s first T-shirts.

The must-watch TV show of the early 1980’s was The Tube, presented by Jools Holland and Paula Yates. It featured a clothing segment each week where they highlighted the best dressed member of the audience. With no satellite TV and being broadcast live it became an influential watch, for fashion lovers, who were eager to keep up with the latest trends. One week, a lady from the audience was selected wearing one of Bev’s dresses.

As Street Theatre became ever more successful Peter Small began selling his clothes to the flagship branch of Topshop in London’s Oxford Street. These designs, including many of Bev’s, were displayed in relevant fashion magazines.

Just as her career was on the ascendancy, Bev met her future husband, a traveller, who lived on a double-decker bus. She put her design skills on the back burner to start a family and become a full-time mum.

With the energetic and ever-changing London backdrop becoming less appealing the couple decided to buy some land in the mountains of Spain to raise their children in a safer environment. Their bohemian lifestyle continued for a decade before they returned to London, this time living on 110-foot barge, which had to be moored in Essex due to its size.

Shortly after, their marriage ended, Bev and her two children moved into a flat. Sadly, her husband died a brief time later. Bev continued to raise her children as a single parent and took on cleaning jobs to make ends meet. After seven years a rent increase finally forced her out of her home, after not being able to afford to stay.

Bev faced two choices. A local B&B that had a bad reputation and would force her to give up her pets and all her furniture, or to move her belongings and stay with her sister-in-law in Cornwall. During December 2023, Bev chose Cornwall.

The arrangements, however, soon fell apart due to both being in recovery and together they began using substances. Bev moved into her car with her dog, abandoning all but a few of her prized possessions. Things got worse as her beloved dog became extremely ill. Fortunately, Street Vets supported Bev so that her last moments with her dog, could be spent within a comforting environment.

It was after Bev put her name forward through the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP) she finally got accommodation in the newly opened innovative housing pods project in Newquay, through Cornwall Council, with support provided by Cornish homeless charity; Harbour Housing and instantly formed a bond with her support worker Liz, who encouraged her to follow her dreams again.

Kate Smith, the education, wellbeing and communications lead at Harbour Housing, said: “Bev’s journey is a powerful reminder that learning never stops. In her 60s, she retrained as a mechanic, driven by passion and not pressure, and now gives back weekly by providing our staff team with car wellbeing checks.

“Bev’s commitment to learning not only supports her own personal growth but also strengthens our community safety and saves valuable resources. Bev also inspires many of our residents, proving that it’s never too late to learn, to give, and to make a meaningful difference. We are so incredibly lucky to have her supporting us here at Harbour.”