Transcript

"My childhood was a very special time. I was loved and my family sheltered and protected me from the big wide world.

They called me their little princess, and a Greek princess is what I thought I was.

From the age of three I remember playing make-believe games with my best friend and cousin, Hayley.

We would rummage through my mother's belongings desperately searching for princess-y items to illustrate our fairy tale games.

Flowers, make-up, stiletto shoes, silk nighties, evening gowns ... my mother would go mad!

We would then strut around the house genuinely believing that we were magical.

Little madams we were ... running to the park in our prettiest attire so the whole world could see what lovely princesses we were. Then we would play in the dirt and mud - 'tomboys with style'!

At 24 I got my first proper job - Marketing Co-ordinator for a furniture recycling and community regeneration charity, "Too Good to Waste". Brilliant work experience' I thought, but I wasn't expecting this charity to open my eyes to a new world that I had been so sheltered from my whole life.

It was amazing to discover the difference my organisation made to the lives of many people.

One experience that I will never forget involves a young girl, who being homeless since the age of 13 was given free furniture to furnish her empty room.

Something that I had always taken for granted in my life had transformed hers ... and for the first time she too felt like a magical princess."