The Dearden Family
Jenny Dearden

Jenny was born Jennifer Waite in 1951 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, the youngest in a family of seven children.

Jenny was educated at Shiregreen Secondary School and, not being afforded the opportunity of advanced education, left at the age of 15 to take up a position as a footwear sales assistant at Collins’ shoe shop in Firth Park.

Following the sudden demise of the owner, his wife sold the business to Davis and the old tradition of brown paper and string wrapping sadly gave way to plastic bags and sticky tape.

Jenny left the shoe trade to join Marks and Spencer and subsequently the John Lewis Partnership.

A brief course in shorthand and typing followed by a spell in office work was succeeded by a return to the shop floor at the Co-operative store in Sheffield and subsequently in Bury, prior to becoming a full-time mother.

Since then, Jenny has worked as a waitress at the local village pub, as a school crossing patrol lady, a café waitress in Bury and a school dinner supervisor.

Given the opportunity, Jenny would have made an excellent primary school teacher. As it is, she has her hands full keeping me in check and, for a while, running the 7th Ramsbottom (Greenmount) Thursday and Friday Beaver Colonies.

In later years, Jenny discovered she had a gluten allergy and, although not diagnosed as celiac, we have a gluten-free environment at home and Jenny eats gluten-free food when we dine out. Since we also eat mostly organic food at home, this poses something of a challenge and Jenny makes and bakes most of our food from basic ingredients, which is not easy when it is necessary to blend various quantities of different flours to produce the right flour-mix for whatever she is making.

Jenny and Rachel have a stall at the local Christmas Fair where they sell their home-made, gluten-free items and Jenny also provides gluten-free cakes for and is a helper at the village, monthly (Friday) Dementia Café, which was honoured with the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service on 3rd June 2020.