Leander housekeeper turns down her last bed for rowers

A WOMAN who has made the bed for thousands of rowers retires today (Friday).

Mary Jamai is leaving Leander Club in Henley after 24 years, the last 13 as housekeeper.

Over the years, she has cleaned up and helped look after multiple Olympians and medal winners and sometimes they would help her with jobs like changing a lightbulb.

Mrs Jamai, who is known to the athletes and Leander staff as “Maz”, plans to spend more time with her family and have holidays by the seaside.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I’ll have my weekends free, which is amazing. I’m going to spend a lot more time with my granddaughters and more time with my family in general.

“I moved last year to Mount View so now I’ll have time to redecorate and I can finally sort out the garden and buy some garden furniture. I’m going on holiday to the seaside in May. That’s one of the great things — if I want to go somewhere I can without worrying about booking holidays at work.

“I’ve never been able to have a dog because I couldn’t leave it at home all the time but after the holiday in May I will look at getting a little cocker spaniel.

“I could have retired last year when I turned 66 but I thought, ‘No, I’m okay, I can carry on’ but then we had 10 days off for Christmas and I felt so well and I felt it was time. It’s quite a physical job so it felt really nice to rest.”

When she returned to work, she told general manager Alastair Heathcote that she wanted to retire. “Then I went round saying, ‘I’m going!’” said Mrs Jamai. “I’m sad but in a nice way — it’s time.”

Mrs Jamai has lived in the area her whole life. She grew up in Stonor and when she left home at 17 she moved to Henley, living in River Terrace, Queen Street and then Friday Street for 17 years where she had her two daughters.

She then lived in Gainsborough Road before downsizing to her current flat.

Mrs Jamai said: “My mum’s side of the family are from Henley so I do have a few cousins around. I still see people I went to school with in town, which is nice.

“Whenever I’ve been away and came back over the bridge I know I’m home. We really are lucky with Henley, aren’t we?”

Mrs Jamai covered her cupboard door with photographs and newspaper articles about Leander’s achievements, which started when she began working in housekeeping.

She said: “Most of it is cut out of the Henley Standard. There are layers and layers of pictures. I’ve got some from the Olympics when they came on the bus through town and the row past. I have the final day results from every regatta and I put dots next to where Leander won.

“I didn’t know if it was appropriate at first but as time went on, athletes would walk past and go, ‘Am I on there?’.

“It’s really nice seeing pictures of when they were just boys now they’re all big and strong. You can also see that there are a lot more women now than there used to be.”

Mrs Jamai started at Leander as a kitchen assistant. After a year, a new chef arrived and as she had been making puddings, he asked her if she was interested in training as a pastry chef and she agreed.

She did this for seven years before a new chef arrived who wanted to introduce split shifts.

“I couldn’t do it,” said Mrs Jamai. “I was a single mum and wanted to be able to take my daughters to school and pick them up and didn’t want to work in the evening and leave them at home.

“It would have been awful so I said I would leave but then they offered me the chance to do some cleaning and housekeeping.

“I thought it was great because it meant I didn’t need to look for another job. Then when the housekeeper left, I took over from her. It has been great — I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Mrs Jamai has enjoyed getting to know the athletes and says she will keep up to date with their progress in the future.

“They’re quite useful,” she said. “If I need a lightbulb changed, I don’t need to get a stepladder, I just ask a rower. Sometimes they’ll help me flip the beds. They are really lovely and I’ve been really lucky to have such a lovely job in lovely surroundings.

“It’s horrible when they go away on a camp. The club gets so quiet. You moan about them when they’re here because they make a mess and they’re noisy but when they’re away it’s not the same.

“There are one or two days after Christmas that the staff come to set everything up before the athletes come and you miss hearing them laughing and listening to their inspirational music blaring in the gym.”

There are 11 bedrooms at Leander, including an eight-bed dormitory and two two-bed flats for athletes when there are
competitions.

Mrs Jamai said: “When there are competitions — mainly for the juniors — I have to keep check on them. That’s how I’ve got to know them and how cheeky they are. I would have to keep on their backs about tidying up their mess.

“It’s nice to not be stuck in an office. I have lovely views every morning from the rooms looking out on to the river.

“One year, I took a picture every day that the regatta was being set up, from the first lorry that came through, to see the progress. It takes quite a while.

“I won’t be here for the regatta this year — I might be on my seaside holiday — but I did tell one of the coaches that when I’m walking along the towpath, I’ll watch the rowers come down the river. It’s amazing watching them.”

At the 2012 Olympics, Leander staff were told that they would have to book tickets but Mrs Jamai was given two by a coach.

She said: “We had the most amazing day and I felt so proud of the rowers. It was really brilliant to be there.”

In 2020, Mrs Jamai was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to take some time off work.

She said: “When I got the diagnosis, it was a huge shock. I told my family but I thought, ‘I’m not going to say anything to Al’, but then overnight I changed my mind as it was probably going to affect my work.

“It was after lockdown and I worked until the week before my surgery in September. In November/December I had radiotherapy.

“I wanted to get well to get back to work because I missed it but knowing how physical the job is, I had to be careful. Al and the staff here were amazing and so supportive. I didn’t have to worry about not coming in. Al said: ‘Take whatever time you need — it’s fine’.

“I decided to come back in April but after two days I realised I’d made a mistake and it was too soon. I took another month and then came back in May.

“They were very good, they let me build up my strength. It’s hard to run around and make all the beds. They were just amazing.”

Mrs Jamai was given the “all-clear” but she was ordered to take medication for five years. The drug affects bones so she has regular scans to check her bone density.

She lives with her daughter Samira, 29, who is a team leader at Waitrose in Henley.

Samira previously lived in Twyford and moved back home while she searched for another place but when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, she decided to stay and look after her.

Mrs Jamai’s other daughter Emma, 38, is a teacher at Rupert House School in Henley. She lives in Reading with her husband, Alex, who also works for Waitrose, and has two daughters, Ava, six, and Josie, three.

Mrs Jamai enjoys picking up her granddaughters from school on Tuesdays and looking after them.

She did not expect to do much work on her final day but enjoy saying farewell to her colleagues and the rowers.

She said she saw former Leander captain and double Olympic champion Steve Williams recently.

“He’d heard I was leaving and gave me a nice hug and that caught me a little bit,” said Mrs Jamai.

“I’ve been all excited and driving everybody mad saying, ‘Oh it’s my penultimate weekend, it’s my penultimate Tuesday’, every day, but seeing Steve made it feel a bit more real. I will miss everyone.

“The girls from the office have these little get-togethers so I will still meet with them and I will definitely stay in touch with Katherine, who is taking over as housekeeper and has been very supportive.”

Mrs Jamai has been raising money for Cancer Research this month by doing 10,000 steps a day as part of an appeal called Walk All Over Cancer. Her daughters have also been taking part.

To make a donation, visit https://bit.ly/3K1sRRJ