Doreen Norma Hewitt (15 Dec 1929 - 14 Aug 2020)

Doreen was born in Nottingham on Sunday 15th December 1929.
She was brought up in the Lenton area of the City and attended Cottesmore Secondary School for Girls (boys and girls were separated back then). It was whilst at school Doreen began her love of food and cooking.
Times were hard back then and Doreen and her best friend Pearl Butcher only had one dress apiece so, as they wore the same size, they would swap dresses when going out for an evening.
Doreen met her husband to be, Sidney Hewitt at Ilkeston fair and they were married at The Holy Trinity Church in Lenton on 10th February 1951. They moved into their 1st home on Chelsea Street, New Basford where they brought up 2 daughters; Anne born in 1953 and Lesley born in 1957.

Doreen's career in catering started when she left school and worked as a kitchen assistant at the Boots factory in Nottingham. She resumed her career after having the girls and worked for some time in G.P.O. canteens and latterly at the restaurant in the new Walton House building.
In the late 60's Doreen started working for the Nottingham School Meals Service, firstly as a kitchen assistant at Seely Primary School. It was whilst working for School Meals that Doreen achieved 2 City & Guilds certificates in Catering at Clarendon College, Nottingham. Following on from this Doreen became an Assistant Cook at her local primary school, Gladehill Primary School on the new Bestwood Park Estate. She was promoted to Cook Supervisor and remained at Gladehill until her retirement.

Doreen loved reading and would have loved to go on to further education after school, but money was tight and she was forced to leave school at 15 to start her working career. Probably as a result of this Doreen decided to join her daughter, Anne in attending night school and taking her GCSE in English Language which she passed with a grade C2 in the Summer of 1991.
Doreen's love of books continued and she attended a weekly 'book club' held at Arnold Library.
She also loved films and going to the cinema, something which started early in her life. She loved the old black and white films of the 30's, 40's and 50's particularly those starring actresses like Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck - the list is endless. Her favourite film and book was 'Gone With The Wind', which she watched time and again. She read the book several times too. She also loved seeing live theatre performances, seeing numerous plays and musical shows with family and friends. As a treat for her 70th birthday in December 1999, Anne and Lesley took her to London for 'Tea at the Ritz' followed by a visit to a theatre in the West End to see the musical 'Cats'.

Doreen also enjoyed eating out and holidays, both in the UK and Europe. She particularly enjoyed visiting her friends Carol and Syd who lived in Spain for many years. One of her favourite places to visit was the Island of Kos, Greece and it was here that her daughters treated her to a holiday in June 2010 to celebrate her 80th birthday (the previous December). Her 80th birthday was also marked with a family meal at the 'World Service Restaurant' in Nottingham.

Doreen got into the habit of having 2 holidays abroad each year mainly with Anne and/or Lesley and her husband of 40 years, Murray. There was usually a summer break to Kos or other Greek islands like Zante or mainland Greece, and then a winter 'warmer' in the Canaries.
In later years when travelling abroad got difficult for Doreen, Anne and Lesley would take her to different places in the UK such as; Hunstanton and Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, Southport in Merseyside, Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire and various resorts on the Yorkshire coast. The one seaside place Doreen loved was Skegness where she enjoyed visiting Epton's for a sit-in meal of fish and chips with a slice of bread and butter and a pot of tea. Many day trips were taken to Skegness with family or friends from Anchor Court Bestwood Park, where she lived for 20+ years.

Doreen attended church regularly, enjoying the company of the other members of the congregation. In later years she especially enjoyed what she called 'the Tuesday lunch club' at the Bestwood Church on Elmbridge and was once seen on East Midlands Today news busily tucking in to her dinner whilst those around her were smiling as the camera passed.

Finally, one little known fact about Doreen was that she did an excellent impression of the Meercats 'Simples".