Pub 2311 p59 Unsung Hero 18/11/09 11:17 Page 59
www.thepublicanfda.com thePublican Monday 23/11/09 59
UNSUNG HERO OF THE YEAR
The winner
SPONSORED BY
JOANIE CLEMENT
The Nightingale
Balham, London
Customers come in specifically to see Joanie – and
if she isn’t working, they come back when she is.
She has been working behind the bar at the
Nightingale, a community local in Balham, for 33
years. Now 75, she is one of the two longest-serving
members of staff within the Young’s estate.
Joanie brings the community together, according to
customers and her managers Lee and Keris de
Villiers. Joanie waits on tables and serves drinks,
cleans the south London pub and trains new staff.
The Nightingale Walk, an annual charity event, has
raised more than £500,000 in its 30 years. Joanie has
taken part in all of them and can be immensely
proud of the money they have raised – and the
difference this has made to the recipients of the
various charities that have benefited. Joanie writes
in the pub’s newsletter, The Nightingale, launched
in 2007. Under the title Joanie’s Corner, she
describes the latest developments in her life as well
as events and people she has seen locally.
Joanie leads by example, treating everyone as if
they are important. According to Lee: “She makes
you feel as if you’re having a drink in her front room
– which is infectious and spreads throughout our
team.”
Joanie speaks fondly of John Young, the legendary
late chairman, who used to visit the Nightingale and
spend the odd hour drinking with senior members
FOOD & DRINK
of the customer base.
AWARDS 2009
He recognised her qualities and regularly popped in
to say hello. “He was a lovely man,” says Joanie, “He
always made time for people – partly because that’s Lee says: “Joanie is an inspiration not just to those
the sort of person he was but also because it helped who work here but to the customers who come in
him to keep in touch with what was going on in the every day. If I could be half the person she is, I
pubs.” would be very proud. She is the heart of our pub
and community.”
The pub has regular individual and team ‘buzz’ year. “They were so supportive
sessions and Joanie has completed Young’s due dili- Joanie is grateful to her colleagues and the pub’s that I feel that this really is my home now and
gence training. She has also trained in preparation customers for their sympathy and encouragement would find it immensely difficult to live anywhere
for the company’s mystery visitor programme. when her husband Albert passed away earlier this else,” she said. ■
CONGRATULATIONS
JOANIE CLEMENT
...WE’RE PROUD OF YOU
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