In the early hours of June 29 last year, Kerri and her two grandchildren were lucky to escape when her house on the corner of Dowling Street and Fosterton Road was totally destroyed by fire.

The winds were horrific and it turned the fire into an inferno. All she escaped with were the clothes she was wearing and her vehicle which she reversed across the road.

But the Dungog community rallied behind the grandmother, who lost her husband Clive only two years earlier.

More than $29,000 was raised and furniture and goods donated by generous residents and business owners for the woman who had spent a good part of her life very involved in the sporting community.

After the fire Kerri spent the first few months living at the Tall Timbers Motel before moving into a duplex in Dungog.

While she is pleased to move back into her old home – which has been totally rebuilt from scratch – Kerri said she has “mixed feelings”.

“It brought back memories about the fire and Clive,” she said.

“Clive worked across the road at Norco and I would hear the click of the gate as he left or came home from work and the forklift starting up.

“I suffer from depression so that isn’t helping at all either.

“I probably should have moved back in a bit earlier than this, but the floods came and the builder had to go and do other homes,” she said.

“It was only up to the framework stage, but it seems to taken so long from there.

“My insurance company was pretty good and they paid for all my accommodation prior to moving back home.”

Kerri is disabled and uses crutches to get around so a house with stairs was not an option.

She is also getting less movement in her hands and will eventually be in a wheelchair.

“I re-arranged inside the house so the hallways and doors are wider and it’s all on one level,” she said.

“I have used some of the money raised to buy a dishwasher to make it easier for me and a new washing machine and furniture.

“I still need to buy blinds and I hope to level off a bit of grassed area out the front so it will be easier for me.

“What the community did for me was unbelievable and I am so very grateful.

“The money and support has been overwhelming and there are so many people to thank, and many people who I don’t know.

“People are still offering me support after all this time.

“Without the help of everyone, I don’t know how I would have made it.”