Sweet success is icing on the cake

Woman of Oldham: Joan Tomlinson

Selfless Joan crowned Woman of Oldham

SHE’S just a lady who can’t say “No”
The selfless attitude that has seen Joan Tomlinson bake thousands of cakes to raise money for good causes has earned her the coveted title of Woman of Oldham, 2011.

Joan (72), of Dorset Avenue, Shaw, started her charity work 20 years ago when she offered her services to raise a few extra pounds to help buy a cooker for St Thomas’s Church, Moorside.

“I thought I would make a few cakes and that would make the difference,” said the grandmother of five.

But Joan’s delicious homebaking proved a winner and has led to her becoming one of Oldham’s biggest charity bakers.

Not only does she bake cakes, but makes pickles and jams to sell for charity, and busy periods can see her spending up to two days a week whisking and beating, boiling and bottling.

Joan struggled to keep her composure after learning she had won the title to become the 19th Woman of Oldham at yesterday’s charity lunch, held at the White Hart Hotel, Lydgate.

She was heralded as a true ambassador for Oldham, and described by her nominators as “an angel dressed as a human being”, and “a lady who doesn’t have the word ‘no’ in her vocabulary.”

Accepting the Oldham Chronicle Rose Bowl, an overwhelmed Joan said: “I do it for the enjoyment, but it is nice to be appreciated.”

The mother-of-two added simply: “When I find myself with a couple of hours to spare I make some cakes.”

She paid tribute to her husband, Colin, who she said was an immense support.

“He is wonderful and very supportive and deserves his credit for this. He has helped me so much. It costs him money, he has allowed me to do it for so long, and he helps out on the stalls,” she said.

Joan’s most popular bakes are parkin and lemon drizzle — and chocolate cake for her younger supporters.

Last year her baking raised £1,500 for church funds. She brought in £1,000 the previous year, and £500 so far this year.

That is besides the many cakes she has baked to help other good causes.

Promising many more years of cake baking, she said: “I do it for anyone who asks.”

Clare Weston, chairman of the Woman of Oldham Committee, said: “Joan is a very worthy winner. She does an enormous amount of work for charity and she is involved in so many things.”

Joan, who was nominated for a Pride in Oldham award in 2004, was chairman of the League of Friends, which supports the Royal Oldham Hospital, for two years until last year.

Over the years she has sold cakes all over Oldham, from Sunday morning stalls at the back of St Thomas’s Church, Moorside, to fundraising events and fetes, and Royton and Shaw markets.

She retired from her job as an administrator with Oldham Social Services 17 years ago.

The Woman of Oldham Committee is still totting up the proceeds, which will go to the In Your Hands appeal, which supports the new £44 million Women and Children’s supercentre at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

The £200,000 appeal is still £90,000 short of its target, said Dr Bibian Ofoegbu, consultant neonatologist, who was at the award ceremony representing the charity.

She thanked the Woman of Oldham Committee for its support and said work on the building, which is due to open in December, 2012, was ahead of schedule.

Guest speaker Joyce Jackson used an anagram of the In Your Hands appeal for the title of her speech, “Sunny Hairdos”, and the Mayoress of Oldham, Valerie Knowles, was at the event.

Anyone who wants to nominate a local charity as beneficiary for next year’s fund-raising by the Woman of Oldham Committee can contact secretary Janet Larton on 0161-652 8878.