Cathy Matthews

Cathy Matthews is a widow whose husband Alan had had an adjoining allotment plot to the one shared by Sharif Nazir and Roy Cropper. The two men were in their usual dispute about what they planted and this time it was over spearmint. Sharif threw his unwanted plant onto the next door but overgrown plot, annoying Cathy who had just walked up. Sharif apologised and Roy offered their services to clean up the ground as a form of apology. When she returned later, much progress had been made on the work. Cathy apologised for her previous anger, telling them that she hadn't been having a good day. Sharif was shattered after his extra effort but Roy stayed behind to continue. He later shared a cup of tea from his flask with her and she told him about Alan who had died a year before and his pride in the allotment, finding sanity in its peace and quiet from his council job as a customer complaint's officer. A day later, Cathy was not so happy when she overheard Roy and Sharif talking about taking over Cathy's plot, Roy only thinking of proposing the matter to her, and she angrily tore a strip off the two men.

She came into Roy's Rolls a few days later to talk to Roy but for some reason lost her nerve and left hurriedly. Almost a month passed by before she returned, offering to sell Roy her late husband’s elderflower cordial but the sample she brought had turned alcoholic. Upset, she left again only to return to apologise for her behaviour. Roy realised that she couldn't afford the £30 allotment fees and offered her several hours paid work to earn the sum rather than lose her dignity with a charitable offer.

Roy continued his friendship with Cathy who continued to frequent the cafe. When Fiz Stape returned to Weatherfield after an absence of six months nursing her sick mother, she met and took a liking to Cathy but both she and Tyrone Dobbs started to become suspicious of Cathy's stories about her freezer and boiler packing up and considered the woman's behaviour to be strange. After a visit from some bailiffs, Roy found out that not only was Cathy in debt but she was also a compulsive hoarder, her house being packed with so many items from her life that there was literally nowhere to sit. He tried to persuade her to change her habits but became insistent after a pile of debris in her living room fell on her, trapping her beneath.

Other information

 * Cathy's sister Nessa has a son named Alex, who came to visit his aunt in September 2015.