Winners » Overall winner
Margaret Bridgman from Cromer, East Anglia, was selected out of hundreds of unsung ‘Housework Heroes’ from around the country as the UK Cleaner of Excellence, 2007.
She was nominated by her husband Christopher, for giving up her career as a senior IT professional to provide full-time care for him, after he had to give up his job following a serious accident. Subsequently Christopher then lost what remained of his eyesight, following an attack of acute glaucoma.
When the couple married 30 years ago, they began a luxurious lifestyle, living in a house in Windsor, fully-equipped with all the technical advancements and modern conveniences they could dream of. But when Margaret gave up her career to care for Christopher, the couple moved to a smaller 1970s seaside house in Cromer.
Christopher explains: “In place of Margaret’s job, she has devoted herself to decorating a new house, cooking, cleaning, washing up, ironing, gardening and taking care of me. Ten years on, she continues to balance this with a part-time job as a shop assistant, without a word of complaint or yearning for our old life.”
He adds: “Margaret takes pride in what she does and always keeps our house clean and tidy, while still managing to find time to take me to the local cinema or for a day out in Norwich as a treat.”
Margaret found housekeeping particularly difficult during the first two years of Christopher’s condition, as he became sensitive to light after developing photophobia, and needed to keep the house in complete darkness. The arrival of his guide dog Brownie, a moulting Labrador Retriever, contributed to the cleaning necessity, as her hair ‘literally gets into every corner and covers clothes, floors and furniture.’ “It can even block up the gas fire and chimney,” Christopher says.
Christopher’s award entry also described some of the other obstacles that Margaret overcomes when cleaning the house each day, such as the constant flow of sand from the beach that coats surfaces in the house if windows or doors are open.
On discovering she had won the competition, Margaret enthused: “I’m absolutely delighted. It is a wonderful surprise!”
She continued: "Christopher is not very well a lot of the time and I was really touched that he had taken the trouble to put me forward for the award. I'm sure that there are a lot of carers out there who are doing far more than I do, but the person they are looking after isn't well enough to put them forward. I think it is wonderful that a large organisation such as Miele is doing something to help carers."
Of course winning the UK Cleaner of Excellence Award 2007 was the easy part for Margaret. As the overall champion she then had to choose £1,000 worth of Miele appliances! For nominating Margaret, Christopher won a limited edition gold-coloured Miele vacuum, which was one less product to select. So, to help the couple make a decision, Miele invited them both (and Brownie) to spend the day visiting the company’s Experience Centre near Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
After a conducted tour of the centre and a leisurely lunch, Margaret and Christopher chose a washing machine and a dishwasher. “We had a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable day at the Experience Centre, it was really great,” said Christopher.
On the day the washing machine was installed, Margaret didn’t waste any time putting it to good use, saying “Isn’t it quiet? The only problem now is that these two sparkling new machines make the rest of the kitchen look shabby!”