Shrewsbury Mothercare stalwarts bow out after nearly 40 years

Elaine Dorricott and Brenda Prinn retire this week from the town’s Darwin Centre store to spend more time with their own grandchildren.

Elaine, Customer Service Supervisor, who has been with Mothercare for 25 years, said: “I was working at a playgroup and looking for a job and someone said Mothercare had an advertisement in the shop window in Castle Street.

“I got the job and have been with them ever since, the last 19 years here at the Darwin Centre.

“It’s a lovely job. It’s nice to see young families. I’ve seen young mums coming here when I was first working at Mothercare and now their children are expecting to start a family and they’re coming inb so you do build relationships with them.

“Now we see some of those who were young expectant mums coming in as grandparents – it’s really nice.”

Brenda, from Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, joined the staff at Mothercare nearly 14 years ago and it was a case of being in the right place at the right time: “I was working here as a cleaner,” she said: “A vacancy came up and the then manager asked me and I jumped at the chance.

“It’s been lovely, they’re a lovely bunch of girls here and we have such a good relationship with each other and with the customers.”

She and husband Colin, have two daughters, and a first grandchild and Brenda added: “My daughter has had a baby, Aimee, who is 14 months old now and she’s going back to work so I will be spending more time with the little girl and I’m looking forward to that.

“I’ll still be popping in to the shop with her but it should save me a fortune as I’m always buying things for her when I’m here.”

Elaine, 65, and husband Graham have two children and a grandson, little Jack Dorricott, aged one and Elaine plans to spend more time with him in future but she has fond memories of her time with Mothercare.

She added: “I’ve enjoyed the company here and the fact that it’s different every day. It’s not like being in a factory or behind a typewriter all day. There’s plenty of variety.”

Store Manager Samantha Roberts said: “Elaine and Brenda have been great members of staff and helped mkake the store the happy place to work it is.

“We’ll be sorry to see them go but I’m sure they’ll enjoy their time with their grandchildren now and they’re bound to pop in often to show them off to us.”

Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: “It really is remarkable how many long-serving members of staff there are here in Shrewsbury.

“That’s a testament to what a great place Shrewsbury is to work and also what a great place it is to shop.”