A spritely 90-year-old dubbed Britain’s oldest cleaner yesterday revealed she has only taken ONE DAY off in 25 YEARS.
Marge Rose celebrated her birthday by scrubbing the same floors she has been polishing since 1989.
But despite having to give up her last job because of her dodgy knees, the great-grandmother-of- seven has no plans to retire.
Marge spends five days a week working eight hour shifts at The Mall Chequers shopping centre in Maidstone, Kent.
And whether it is scrubbing toilets or cleaning windows the eccentric nan never complains – often turning down the chance of a holiday to scrub the centre’s floors.
Marge yesterday (Weds) said that she loves going into work because she gets lonely at home on her own.
She said: “I love working at the shopping centre and I don’t think I will ever give it up. I have got to know so many people and everybody is always happy to have a chat.
“Even when I am ill I will still go in because I don’t like being at home by myself. Age doesn’t really matter to me. I still feel fit and healthy so I will keep going.”
Marge’s proud daughter Tina Sergeant, 55, said the whole family are proud of hardworking Marge and had to force her to stay at home on her only day off.
The care worker, from Maidstone, Kent, said: “I think this job is something for her to get up in the morning for.
“She just loves being there and has seen babies growing up in there since she started.
“I am certainly not going to be at work when I am 90 but we are all very proud of her because she is such a hard worker.
“As long as she is fit and healthy we will let her carry on but she never wants to take time off.
“She’s only been off sick once and even then we had to force her to take time off.
“One day we are just going to have to tie her down.”
Grandmother-of-three Tina added: “She will put her hand to anything but the only thing she won’t pick up is poo. That will be left for somebody else.”
Before picking up a mop in the 1980s Marge spent nearly 40 years working for Alan Firmin Ltd. where she picked fruits and seeds from the company’s orchids.
But the grandmother-of-14 lost husband Bill, 58, when he was struck down by Hodgkin’s lymphoma nearly 30 years ago.
Cold winter shifts led to her knees seizing up so the gran had to leave her fruit picking job and take up cleaning.
Visitors to the mall say their shopping trips will not be the same without a chat with Marge.
Shopper Joan Allerton, 77, from Chatham, Kent, said: “Everyone knows Marge. She’s an institution.
“She’s a lovely person and it’s wonderful she’s stlll there working at 90.”
