Mother's Day: Inspirational 'one in a million' mum aged 90 is still working at Sheffield's Kenwood Hall Hotel

Violet Garratty’s son, Tony, wanted to share her amazing story ahead of Mother’s Day this Sunday.

Violet was born in Lincoln in 1932, but moved to Sheffield at the age of four and has lived in the city ever since.

Despite being 90, Violet is still working two days a week at Kenwood Hall Hotel in Nether Edge. Having worked at the hotel for 30 years and at the Crucible Theatre for about 25 years, Violet says staying busy keeps her going, and her son Tony says she would still work full-time if she could.

He said: “They really look after her. She is like more of an ambassador for them than anything else because she was on 16 hours a week up to a few months ago and she has now cut it down to two days. She does about 12 hours now.

"She loves it, she would work full time if she could, no problem. She is fitter than me.”

As an outgoing and active person, Violet loves to go on holiday to different countries and has been fortunate enough to get plenty of opportunities to visit new places in her lifetime.

Countries Violet has had the opportunity to visit include USA, Turkey, Kenya, Hong Kong and Spain, and she has lots of stories and great memories from these trips.

She goes on a yearly jaunt to Spain with her family as this is where her husband loved and where he had his ashes placed. It is now a yearly pilgrimage for the family with as many as 14 going for a week to the country.

Tony recalled one story about a safari holiday that perfectly illustrates Violet’s outgoing, friendly and fun nature.

"When she was about 70 years old she had her hair done and she heard all the lasses saying they were going to go to Kenya on a safari. They were only young girls, about 19 or 20, and my mum said I’ve always wanted to go on a safari – and so they said if you get the money, you can come with us.

"My mum said she will come, and next minute I know, she is going with all these young lasses to Kenya on a safari – unbelievable.

"I told her you can’t just go on your own with people you don’t know, but she said I’m going anyway. She went and had the best time of her life.”

On a trip to New York in the USA, Violet got stuck on the Brooklyn Bridge as all the buses had stopped on the bridge at night.

After a phone call with her son Tony, who was still at home in Sheffield, he later found out Violet had asked a gang member to help her, and he actually walked her to the other side of the bridge, and she gave him 50 dollars.

"She is just an amazing person really,” said Tony. “She’s got no enemies, everybody is her friend, she doesn’t slag anyone off.

"My wife said your mum is amazing, works at 90 years old, has a better social life than me.”

Violet does have a very active and fun social life. She sees her childhood friend, Ada, twice a week and they go into Sheffield city centre for a cup of tea, she goes line dancing on a Tuesday, she goes out for meals, babysits for her nieces, and also goes to Handsworth Club three times a week to play bingo.

Recently, at the Handsworth club, Violet was given a special presentation for being an honorary member. She was given flowers from the members and staff, and also had a few bites to eat.

Violet is also amazing with technology, too, says Tony, who can’t keep up himself with her knowledge of modern gadgets.

"We gave her a mobile phone and next minute we are getting a video call, she is phoning you up on video calls and tells you to put your camera on so that she can see you.

"Nobody showed her, she just worked it out.”

Tony is also quite surprised about his mum’s food diet, which he says is not like any other 90-year-old’s amount of food.

"She is not like any other mother where you’ll say what have you had to eat today, and they’ll say a sandwich. For my mum, it’s like – I’ve had a couple of steaks, I’ve had some chips, some onions, I’ve had some cauliflower, I’ve had some cabbage and I’ve had some carrots.

"She says ‘well I like my food’. Even at breakfast she has a proper breakfast in the morning, cooks herself bacon and eggs and stuff like that in a morning. I have never known her eat so much in my life.”

A woman that has time for anyone and loves to go out with her friends and family, Violet has a jam-packed schedule.

She goes out with her friend on Monday, she works on Tuesday and Wednesday, she plays bingo and goes out on Thursday, and over the weekend, she stays over at her daughter Angela’s house.

"It is like you have to make an appointment to see her, her social life is unbelievable, every day she has got something to do,” said Tony.

With Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday, Tony wanted to share his mother’s story and thank her for being the amazing mum she is.

"My mum is one in a million and would be very hard to beat, with her generosity and love she gives everyone and loves everyone,” he said.

Violet is the winner of The Star’s Mother's Day competition, run in association with Leopold Square.

She and a guest will enjoy a stay at Leopold Hotel, where they will be treated to a full English breakfast.