Happy 70th Mandy!

Mandy has achieved a lot in her 70 years. Born in Old Windsor, Mandy lived with her mum and dad, Joan and Fred, and her older sister Lynda in Bracknell.

Mandy was born with an eye condition which meant she had two operations to correct her vision before she was 2 but she didn't let this hold her back.

Mandy, mum and dad

Her mum and dad made sure Mandy had a great life and that has made her the kind and generous person she is today, although her life hasn't been without challenges. Schooling was one, at first going to a local school until she was 7 before moving to a boarding school in Oxford. Being apart from her family made her unhappy so after a couple of years Mandy moved to schools closer to home, first to Holyport near Maidenhead and then to a new local Bracknell school. School was still a struggle but much better now Mandy was living at home.

When Mandy left school she went to college full time and then night school and had a number of jobs, the first of which was egg packing. She did this for nearly a year before the business moved to Didcot, the family joke being this was because Mandy kept breaking all the eggs!

Long service award

Woolworth's

A number of other short term jobs followed, including Woolworth's in Bracknell, before getting experience working in the kitchens at Waitrose and Mowlem. This was to lead to what became a long and successful time working for Boehringer Ingelheim. Mandy worked there for many years in the kitchen and staff restaurant and only left in 2020 when COVID forced her retirement and it was then that Mandy discovered CLASP.

Mandy and her parents moved to Wokingham in 2009 to live close to her sister Lynda and her family. Mandy and her mum and dad have always been big sports fans, supporting the Bracknell Bees Ice Hockey team home and away and following cricket. Mandy remembers watching her dad play as a little girl, and still keeps an eye on the cricket scores today.

Mandy is fond of musical theatre seeing Wicked recently, and hoping to see Tina - The Musical too.

In joining CLASP Mandy has made some wonderful friends. This is lovely for Mandy, as when she was younger her friends were her parents' friends and although she made friends through work, particularly at Boehringer's, leaving her job left a big gap in her life that CLASP has helped to fill.

CLASP love having you as a member Mandy, so from all of your friends at CLASP -

Happy Birthday!