Jewish Care

It's been a long day for Nettie Keene at Sinclair House.

"All the members want their hair done before the holidays, plus we have extra people in for the Chanuka pantomime!"

Nettie has been volunteering as a hairdresser and volunteer coordinator at Sinclair House since her children were small.

“The hair salon I was working at closed soon after I had my kids, I was going to retire but then Sinclair House opened and one of my friends nagged me to come and help. So I said ‘I’ll give it a month and if it's not for me I’m leaving’. 36 years later and I’m still here!”

Nettie has seen a lot of changes at the centre. “At the beginning, 40 people a day was your lot. We only served milk meals and we did all the cooking ourselves. If we needed money, we raised it – whether it was a coffee morning or cleaning the toilets for a big event!”

As a member of Ilford Jewish Youth Club in the 40s and 50s when boys and girls were kept separate, Nettie remembers doing art classes, cookery and handiwork. Now that the youth clubs are held at the centre, things are very different – with a number of boys taking part in Chef School held on Monday evenings.

Nettie's children Saul and Daniel were both youth club members, with Saul working as a youth leader from age 13 to 28. He won the Presidential Award for Youth Leadership from the AJY, making him the number one youth leader in the UK. Now Saul’s son Samuel, 5, has recently joined the centre as a member, which he refers to just as 'club'.

“The best bit is definitely football and seeing friends” he says, grinning.

Asked about the future of Sinclair House, Nettie responds “I think we are now catering for a very different type of person”. And what does Sam think? “I think there might be different activities and different helpers."