An inspirational story from Peckham: Jennifer Blake

Jennifer Blake’s story as a local council by-election candidate is a decidedly unusual one. It’s one of a life that went wrong, blighted by awful crimes, and yet also one that she turned round in a remarkable fashion:

I started as a good Peckham girl.

When I was 13, I started at Peckham Girls School and the trouble started – just as it does for too many teenagers in our neighbourhood.

I rebelled against my parents, ran away from home, and when I was eventually caught I was put in the Davies Street Children’s Home.

By this point, I had become a gang leader. This led me to be sent out of London and placed in a home in Kent.

When I was 18, I came back to the city, and was given a flat on the North Peckham Estate, where as a single mother, I had my first child.

I still got caught up in the wrong things and continued to do wrong. I thought it was the only way to survive, and attend to my son’s needs.

Through all of this, terrible things happened. I was a victim of rape, kidnap and domestic violence – making all the wrong choices and seeing suicide as the only way out.

Read the full story of how Jennifer Blake turned her life around over on Rob Blackie’s blog Inspiring Lib Dems part 4 – Jennifer Blake.