Christine Rutter's Tuesday Topic

MARJORIE Whitaker gave up her home and her job to care for 42 elderly residents in a sheltered accommodation complex.

At an age when many people are looking forward to their retirement, Marjorie left her job as a sales assistant in a card shop and took on the demanding role of a live-in warden at Lacey Court in Haslingden.

She said: "I got to the big 50 and asked myself what I had achieved. I had done voluntary visits to elderly people's homes for 10 years but felt that I needed to do more."

This caring attitude was one of the reasons staff at the Living store, in Market Square, Burnley, chose her as this year's "Real Living Woman of the Year."

Heather Barnes, fashion department manager at Living, said: "Marjorie has done so much with her life and is really devoted to other people. She seemed to stand out. She is a really caring, lovely person and just what we were looking for." No-one was more surprised than Marjorie when she won the title and a whole host of prizes, including £200-worth of photography from Roff Ditchburn in Nelson, £250-worth of clothes from Living, Playtex underwear worth £50, White Diamond perfume, Max Factor make-up, Jardin eau de toilette, Pretty Polly tights and a Jane Shilton handbag. Runners-up Gillian Ibbotson and Anita Gregory won a cosmetic bag and lipstick. Nominator Steven Gratton won £50 in the draw.

Modest Marjorie, 56, said: "I never thought I would win.

"I know people that do much more than me who have never received any thanks. The prize was fabulous."

An arthritis sufferer, Marjorie ignores her aches and pains to attend to her residents, who think the world of her.

One 84-year-old resident, Miss Edna Egerton, said: "She is a marvellous person.

"She looks after us all. She is always there for us and is a very caring person."

Marjorie said: "Being a warden is something I just thought I could have a go at.

"I visited elderly people's homes so that they could have someone to chat to.

"I enjoyed that.

"I don't try to outshine anyone.

"Some wardens do much more than me.

"I get a great deal of support from my husband and back-up from my colleagues.

"It is a challenging job. "Your job is different every day. You can be looking after someone who is very poorly and then go into a party and have to put on a smile.

"Sheltered housing isn't a nursing or care home.

"It's independent living.

"Some people have been in the same house for 50 to 60 years so it is a big thing to come into sheltered accommodation.

"When the responsibilities are taken off their shoulders they start to relax and have a damn good life."

Marjorie tried to explain her zest for life.

"I'm never one to keep still," she said.

"I'm always on the go.

"My left leg does give me gip but I'm determined that the arthritis is not going to rule me.

"It will have to live alongside me. I want to do the job for as long as I can until my health prevents me."

Marjorie, who has a daughter Julia, nursed her husband back to health when he had a heart attack.

"It was an awful time," she said.

"You just have to keep going and try and build your self-confidence back up.

"We worked together."

She also helped out at her local newsagents when the owner's wife collapsed, baby-sat for people's children and helped out in the reception class at a primary school.

Marjorie said: "I volunteer to help. "I don't like to see people stuck.

"I like to see them able to cope with life. I'd like to think that if I was stuck someone would help me."

Marjorie believes her caring attitude is inherited from her mum, who was a seaside landlady and took homeless and destitute people in for Christmas dinner.

Her husband Terence, who nominated her for the title, said: "Her resilience to setbacks and caring attitude are tested daily but her positive and enthusiastic approach always carries her through.

"Despite her full life caring for others, Marjorie still finds time to carry out her other role as a loving wife and mother and her sheer energy and zest for life would leave many a younger person breathless.

"She is a REAL woman in every sense of the word."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.