Character Interview: Brenda Jump

Today we meet another member of the management trio of the Sanford 3rd Age Club, Brenda Jump. Although we should never discuss a lady's age, Brenda freely admits to being anything but a lady and describes herself as 55 years young.

DWR: Looking back on your life, Brenda, did you ever imagine that you would end up as an assistant in a truckers' café?

Brenda: It wasn't what it planned, no. Colin, my late husband, had quite a well-paid and responsible position in the Borough Surveyors' Department and I worked in a bank for most of my life. I ended up a senior teller. When Colin died, I felt the time was right for a change. Banking was becoming too sales oriented and I didn't want that constant pressure. Joe was looking for staff, so I came to work for him and I've never had cause to regret that decision.

DWR: The grapevine has it that you and Joe had a bit of thing when you were teenagers.

Brenda: It's true. We were going steady for about three months just as we left school, but Joe was as single-minded then as he is now. All he cared about was the café. It was just a teenage fling and even if Joe hadn't been so work-minded, I don't think anything would have come of it. I like to spend, Joe's more like a squirrel. He stores his nuts for the lean times. They say you can't take it with you, but they really mean is Joe hasn't worked out a way of taking it with him

DWR: Unkind souls say you're a little too free with your, er, shall we say, favours? How do you react to that?

Brenda: It's unfair. Yes, I have men friends, and yes if I fancy a bloke enough we'll get it on together, but what the hell, this is the twenty first century, and just because I'm over fifty it doesn't mean I'm dead from the waist down. But I'm no tart. I'm not like Knickers-off Nicola. I was married to the same man for twenty eight years, you know, and I never strayed once. But I don't care what people say about me, as long as I don't hear it. Take it from me, life's too short for not enjoying yourself.

DWR: When you're on one of the Sanford 3rd Age Club outings, you seem to spend an awful lot of money on designer fashions and fragrances. Don't you worry about your financial future?

Brenda: Colin left me with a bob or two. I earn a wage at the Lazy Luncheonette and I spend my money as I see fit. Not all us Yorkshire folk are Joe Murray clones, you know. Besides, if widowhood has taught me anything it's that you never know what's round the corner, so what's the point in saving for the next rainy day? You might not be around to put your umbrella up.

DWR: You were one of the three founders of the Sanford 3rd Age Club. How did you see the club in your mind's eye?

Brenda: Sanford is a wonderful town, but like most places it caters more for the youngsters than it does the oldsters. We're not all knitting and bingo fans, you know. We wanted to create a friendly society where like-minded individuals could get together regularly and enjoy themselves the way they used to, only without the irritation of parents waiting for explanations when you rolled home at three in the morning. And it's worked.

DWR: Did you ever imagine the club would be such a success?

Brenda: Can't speak for Joe and Sheila, but yes, I did. Many people call us a mob of middle-aged rockers, but that's only envy. Freedom is how we see it, and think about this; most of the music the boy bands are singing these days, we remember them first time around. The Sanford 3rd Age Club breathes new life into its members, and even if the body count usually begins to rise when we're in town, it all adds to the fun.

DWR: Finally, Brenda, do you have any advice for those who would try to outwit Joe and his detective skills?

Brenda: I've seen 'em try everything from threats of physical violence and impersonating police officers to women getting him into bed, and none of it worked. But, trust me, it can be done. You just have to come at it from the right angle. Go for his wallet!

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The Filey Connection, a Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, by David W Robinson, is published by Crooked {Cat} Publishing on Friday March 2nd 2012. Read a pre-release review at The Little Reader Library