It was meant to be the moment Porthleven resident Sue Roberts helped make the first steps in changing public perception of people living in social housing.

Sadly, the sudden onset of snow prevented Sue from travelling to London to be part of the launch of a cause very close to her heart.

She had been hoping to join Allister Young, chief executive of Coastline Housing, last Wednesday to meet with MPs for the launch of the new campaign Benefit to Society.

A national survey recently showed that more than 90 per cent of social housing tenants feel they are portrayed in a negative way - and now they are asking their elected representatives to take action, by singing up to an online pledge at benefittosociety.co.uk.

M r Young said: “Social housing gives people a decent home that is affordable and secure. It allows people to get on with the rest of their lives and to achieve great things. It’s time for those stories to be heard.”

One of these people is Sue, who despite missing the campaign launch is still giving it her full backing.

As a customer non-executive director of Coastline Housing, Sue sees first-hand the importance of removing negative stigmas – and knows only too well herself how important having a secure home is.

She first came to Cornwall in 1970 to complete her Royal Navy training as a Wren Meteorological Observer at RNAS Culdrose and within two years was Acting Local Leading Wren. However, s marriage breakdown led her into social housing.

Sue said: “I became a social housing tenant when my husband walked out on us and left nothing but debts and our house was repossessed. I have thanked God every day since for giving us a roof over our heads and allowing us to concentrate on working to pay the rent.”

Sue has always been keen to do help change lives for the better and in 2004 she travelled to Malawi and Mozambique as a volunteer with an international aid charity.

In 2006, she travelled to Romania with others from a local church group to run a summer camp. Her last job pre-retirement saw her travelling to Costa Rica, where she worked for ten months training a workforce in quality control of products the company had previously made in Redruth.

Since retirement, Sue continues to volunteer at her local Mustard Seed café, her local food bank, Helston Railway, Helston Museum and the Home Library Service, and has recently been asked to join the church pastoral visiting team.