Hospices the Cutlers' choice

They chose the hospices because Janet has been involved with St Luke's for many years and Gordon is chief executive of a Rotherham-based company - world-beating mechanical seal manufacturer AESSEAL.

Janet joined St Luke's as a volunteer after bringing up the couple's two daughters – Emily, an engineering graduate who is a senior process and quality engineer with 3M in Wales, and Rebecca, an economics graduate who works for HSBC.

The couple met at Wells Richardson, where Janet started out as an office junior while Gordon was a trainee accountant.

Before she stopped work to bring up their family, Janet had become secretary to one of the partners at Wells Richardson and then personal assistant to one of the directors of what was then Daniel Doncasters.

In that role, she recalls, one of her jobs was to scour the papers for mentions of the company - and that led to her taking the news to a surprised board that Doncasters had become a takeover target.

Although she started at St Luke's as a volunteer, Janet ended up working for the organisation, eventually running the medical records department until she stepped down in March.

"I was there 16 years. It could have its upsetting moments, but it was a good place to work," says Janet.

"When you need support yourself, they are there for you. Last year (while Gordon was being successfully treated for prostate cancer) they were tremendous with me.

"They are a fantastic group of people to work for and it was a fantastic place to work."

Janet isn't quite sure what to expect from her year as Mistress Cutler.

"I'm looking forward to meeting lots of different people and seeing things I would not normally see – although I'm not quite sure what they will be yet," she says.

See

tonight's Star Business Monthly for an interview with the new Master Cutler.