A 79-YEAR-OLD care home worker has been awarded Employee of the Month after more than two decades of service.
Brenda Tooby is a domestic cleaner at Alderwood Care Home, in Salford, where she started working at the age of 59.
Emma Willoughby, home manager, said: “She never complains and always has a smile. She goes the extra mile for the residents and is the life and soul of the home.
“All the staff and residents at Alderwood Care Home appreciate everything Brenda has done and continues to do.”
Alderwood was Brenda’s first care home job, having lived in Salford her entire life.
Born in Boothstown in 1939, she was one of nine children.
At 15 years old, she helped at St James School as a primary teacher and then Piggot Street Day Nursery as a child nurse, both in Farnsworth.
She met her husband, Norman, at 16 at Turners Dancing Hall, before being married five years later at 21 and eventually having their son Lee at 29.
When Lee started attending school, Brenda volunteered at her friends’ shops, Jess and Walters Bakery and Green Groceries Shop. She later got a job at Worsley Hall Gardening Centre.
In 1998, she applied for a job as domestic cleaner at Alderwood Care Home, where she has since celebrated her 60th, 70th and soon 80th birthdays.
She said: “I have no plans on retiring anytime soon because I absolutely love interacting with the residents and the staff. I love their company.
“I feel fit, healthy and active and I regularly go on walks with Norman around Wigan, Leigh, Worsley and the Trafford Centre.
“That’s the key to a good, healthy life, as well as plenty of vitamins, lots of fruit and even garlic daily.”
