Ruth Winter was a pretty, well-spoken woman who worked as community social worker at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall from May to July 1966. Ruth was appointed without the knowledge of caretaker Ena Sharples, and immediately clashed with the irascible pensioner. Ena, who had just been found guilty of stealing two tins of salmon from the Pick-a-Snip Supermarket, was offended by the idea of the Mission's transformation into a Community Centre and immediately resigned her post, vacating her accommodation in the Mission's Vestry. Ruth helped to rehouse Ena but she didn't find any of the alternatives to her liking and ended up moving in with Len Fairclough and Jerry Booth as their housekeeper - much to Len's horror!
In her job at the Mission, Ruth started a nursery, a handyman's class, a film class and a pub quiz contest, with the local residents helping out with the running of them. One of Ruth's goals was to bring younger people to the Mission and for that she worked with Lucille Hewitt to plan a dance. Ruth supervised the party but ended up being entertained by Len, who was working as a bouncer, allowing things to get out of hand when two thugs, Vic and Colin, started vandalising the Mission and cornered Lucille and Ena in the Vestry. Ruth arrived just in time and utilised her martial arts skills to send them packing, hitting one and giving him a nosebleed. After this incident, Ena decided to move back into her Vestry and reclaim her job as caretaker.
Ruth got on well with Len but was wary of the builder's reputation. When he finally asked her out, she agreed and after one enjoyable date, he had to pull out of another on Ruth's birthday to go to a World Cup game in Liverpool. A few days later, Ruth was contacted by her old boyfriend Paul, who was living in Rome and working as a stuntman in the movies. Paul wanted Ruth to marry him and move to Rome. Ruth said goodbye to Len and left, after giving Ena the good news that the Community Centre was being moved to Chester Street and her Mission would once again be her domain.
List of appearances[]
1966