40 Faces of Brendoncare – Sandra Booth

Our 40 Faces of Brendoncare celebrates the people who make Brendoncare such a friendly, vibrant place in this, our 40th anniversary year. One of our longest serving colleagues Sandra Booth retired earlier this month (December), but before she left, she reflected on her time at Brendoncare Alton.

December 13, 2024

Sandra Booth has many happy memories as she finally hangs up her tabard after working for 25 years as a housekeeper at Brendoncare Alton this month.

More than 20 of these years have been spent working in the laundry, starting work at 6am to put on an average of 29 loads of clothes a day. But with Sandra, it’s always been done with a smile on her face.

Originally from Binsted, Sandra wanted to be a hairdresser when she left school. However, she got a job making trousers at a Basingstoke factory then, for seven years, worked as a seamstress in the sewing room of the former Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital.

She left to have her first son, continued working as an evening cleaner before getting her job at Brendoncare Alton.

“I started off as one of the housekeepers in one of the households, caring for people living with dementia,” Sandra explains. “I began working here in 1999 two years after Brendoncare Alton opened. It has been lovely. I have always enjoyed it.”

After four years, Sandra started work in the laundry. “I have seen a lot of changes here – the team and the residents. It’s always been nice to go around and have a chat with them, especially a few people I already knew like my auntie who came here.”

In all her time in the laundry, had she found anything unusual? “Yes, false teeth,” she laughs. “That’s when people put them in their pocket and forget about them.

Money:

“One day, I found money! It was the old style paper ten pound notes, so I ironed them dry and returned them to the resident afterwards.”

Although she did not mind getting up at 4am to start work at 6am, Sandra looks forward to her retirement having been working now for 50 years since she left school.

Married to Peter, they have two sons and a grandchild.

“We have lived in the same house in Alton for 42 years. I love my house and garden. I particularly love my garden so I will be spending more time out there and I also want to do some more baking.”

What will she miss about Brendoncare Alton? “I will definitely miss my colleagues, who are nice and the residents, and the family atmosphere here. But I will pop in from time to time to see everyone!”