‘I gave him £20 and now he’s got a house’ – Derek Beaumont reveals life-changing encounter with homeless man

Derek Beaumont has dramatically changed the fortunes of his club the Leigh Leopards but he has also changed the fortunes of a man on the street as well.

Beaumont was speaking on the Eddie and Stevo podcast about staying in touch with his routes and he revealed the heart warming story:

“I never ever lose touch with that (where I’ve come from). I drive through Little Hulton in Salford every day, that is where I was brought up,” he said.

“I drive through it going to my office and back through it coming back, sometimes through Farnworth, and I see what those places still look like.

“I never lose touch with reality, and a lot of what I do I keep private. There are a lot of stories I could tell.

“You see people begging at the traffic lights and one day I stopped, I had just got a good contract for a load of steps, and I wind the window down and my plan was to give him £20 as I’m driving by.

“As I do this the lights change to red, I stop, wind my window down, and he asks if I’m okay because he said that I was looking stressed.

“I’m thinking ‘you’re asking me if I’m okay?’ And he said that the £20 had made his day and he asked me why I was so stressed?

“I just told him it was work and that I was busy. He responded and said that he wished he was busy and that he wished he had a job, he said ‘I can’t because I’ve got no address and I’m homeless.’

“I told him that he didn’t need an address to have a job, he just needed a good will and attitude. I told him to go to AB Sundecks, over the bridge on the estate, and ask for Neil, he will give you a job.

“I told Neil that he might come in, but I didn’t think he would. I thought he would take the £20, go buy a few cans of beer and go sit in his cardboard box in the doorway and that would be his day.

“I rung Neil the next day, he was supposed to be picking me. Turns out the bloke did turn up and two years on the guy still works for me, he’s got a house, a driving license, forklift license and he’s got a bank account and he’s got an address.

“Through all that he’s turned his life around, and those are the kind of stories are the things that motivate me in my life and business.

“I don’t publicise this. Some people have said I should speak about this sort of stuff more.”