79-year-old care home cleaner 'has no plans to retire'

Most people in their seventies have quit work and spend their days with their feet up relaxing. However a cleaner at a care home in Salford has vowed to continue working for “as long as I possibly can” and says she “has no plans to retire”.

Brenda Tooby has worked at Alderwood Care Home since she was 59. She cleans for 22 hours a week and does extra shifts if people are on holiday.

Born at the outbreak of the second world war, she has lived in Salford all her life and after leaving school got a job working at a nursery. Following that she worked in a bakery and a grocery as well as a garden centre before taking up her job at the care home in 1998.

Brenda says: “I love the home. It has a warm, homely feeling and it’s like my second family.”

She admits she does “get upset at times when there are people who are younger than me in here, but I also feel lucky and grateful that I’m still able to be very active and able to continue working”.

While most elderly people are taking it easy, Brenda says: “I have no plans on retiring anytime soon because I absolutely love interacting with the residents and the staff. I love their company.

“I want to work for as long as I possibly can. If I feel at any time that I’m not able to do my duties to the best of my ability I would consider retirement but, at the moment I’m happy.”

She cannot even imagine what life would be like if she wasn’t working, saying: “I have always been active, even when helping out volunteering in friends’ shops and in the schools and nursery when I was younger. I know it will have to come to that one day but for now I’m very fortunate and lucky. I never go to the doctors, I don’t take any medication and feel fit and healthy and it’s all thanks to being as active as possible with a good healthy diet.

“When I’m not working I go on long walks with my husband, as I don’t like to be sat at home doing nothing.

“That’s the key to a good, healthy life, as well as plenty of vitamins, lots of fruit and even garlic daily.”

Brenda describes herself as a “people person” and says: “I enjoy being able to make others smile and sitting with them, talking and getting to know them more and their past, as not a lot of them get many visitors. I wouldn’t like to think how they feel if they felt alone, so I try my best to make sure that all residents feel loved and wanted.”

Brenda was recently awarded Employee of the Month by Alderwood Care Home.

Emma Willoughby, manager of the home, 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.”

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