FOUR years ago Mandy MacDonald was homeless, unemployed and drinking her days away with no idea how to escape and turn her life around.

But fast-forward to to-day and she has put her problems behind her through a combination of determination and help from the homeless hostel which first offered her a place to go when she was at her lowest ebb.

The 40-year-old said she could never have imagined being where she is today when she first arrived at St Paul’s Hostel in Tallow Hill, Worcester, having lost her home due to rent arrears at the start of 2009. After using her 18-month stay at the hostel to put her life in order, she was ready to forge out on her own again.

However, Miss MacDonald soon returned in a different capacity, initially as a volunteer helping out in the hostel’s busy kitchen, but rapidly working her way up through the ranks and securing paid employment in the demanding role of assistant chef.

From having no real culinary experience in the kitchen when she first set out, she is now a dab hand in the kitchen helping prepare four meals a day for hospice clients and taking charge of the entire operation whenever chef Matt Williams is away.

Miss MacDonald now has private accommodation in the city centre and barely recognises the person she was a few years ago. “I had a big problem with drinking. I used to go out drinking at 7am in the morning, as soon as the door of the hostel was opened,” she said.

“I couldn’t see a way out. When you are in a mess like that with drinking you never think that anyone would employ you and when you think there is nothing out there for you, you just carry on with what you are doing.”

Miss MacDonald admits that getting her life back on track was not easy and says it took a great deal of willpower and determination. But she does not believe she could ever have achieved what she has today without the support of St Paul’s.

“The hostel took a chance and put its faith in me and the kitchen has really turned my life around,” she said.

“It got me into a routine and gave me a real structure to my life.

“I have put my problems behind me and I could never go back to signing on or to my old lifestyle.”

She now hopes that sharing her story will serve as inspiration for others who are homeless or experiencing problems of their own.