A “LOVING, kind and helpful” mum was overwhelmed to receive her glittering prize for being chosen as the 2015 Leader Mother of the Year.
The coveted title went to Esme Price, of Cefn Mawr, who was nominated by her daughter, Jan Llewelyn-Davies, for the way she goes out of her way to play a major part in the lives of her family and also help out in the community despite reaching the grand age of 86.
The Mother of the Year competition was supported by the Mococo jewellery shop in the Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham.
In time for Mother’s Day, Esme went along there to collect her fabulous winner’s prize of a beautiful silver and rose gold Eternal Love heart locket from Clogau worth £250.
Set with four sparkling diamonds, it contains rare Welsh gold. Enclosed within the locket is a beautiful solid silver heart also set with a diamond. The piece hangs from an 18-inch sterling silver chain.
An overjoyed Esme said: “It’s a wonderful locket and is definitely the best prize I have ever won in my life.
“I’m delighted to have won something so beautiful, and it will replace a lovely locket bought for me by my first husband but which was stolen in a burglary from our home while we were away on holiday quite a few years ago.”
Esme helps out daily with looking after daughter’s young foster son, keeps an eye on her older sister of 93 and still finds time to be a stalwart member of her local chapel where she has been organist for an incredible 70 years.
Suzanne Bartley, manager of Mococo in Eagles Meadow, who presented Esme with her prize, said: “I’m delighted that she was chosen as the winner as she is such a lovely and glamorous lady.
“We are very pleased to have supplied such an incredible prize to Esme, who is a truly worthy winner of the Mother of the Year title.”
Runner-up in the competition was 41-year-old Dawn Thomson from Cornist Drive in Flint.
She was nominated by her daughter, 21-year-old Katie Thomson, for the way she has coped with bringing up herself and her 13-year-old brother Kyle mostly as a single mum while at the same time building a successful business.
Her prize is a family ticket to the Odeon Cinema at Eagles Meadow.
Esme’s daughter Jan, 57, said in her nomination: “I have the most caring, kind, loving and helpful 86-year-old young mum.
“She keeps busy every day doing things like baby-sitting for our six-year-old foster son and also helping to keep him amused.
“She also looks in regularly on her older sister – my auntie – who is 93 and lives not far away.
“Mum loves to walk her four-year-old spaniel-collie cross dog Ollie around the village and also enjoys knitting, crocheting and her latest thing of making loom bands. She also still drives around in her own little Vauxhall Corsa car.
“A really big part of her life is Rhosymedre Chapel where she has been a member since she was a little girl.
“She’s been the chapel organist since she was 16 – that’s an amazing 70 years – and has also been the treasurer for 58 years.”
Jan added: “My mum has been married twice and when her first husband, John, developed problems with his kidneys she helped to give him dialysis every day until he had a transplant.
“Sadly, he died in 1986 after they had been married for over 35 years. Later she married the man who had been her first boyfriend but she is now a widow after he died about 12 years ago.
“Mum is very family orientated and does everything she can to help us all.
“She is a great choice for Mother of the Year and I am delighted that she has won. Actually, I shed a little tear of joy when I heard she had been chosen as the winner.”
Esme added: “I just can’t believe that I’ve won the competition and I was absolutely flabbergasted when I found out about it.
“I don’t think I do anything out of the ordinary as a mum but Jan is a wonderful daughter and I am very grateful to her for putting me forward.”
Kevin Critchley, the Manager of the Eagles Meadow, said “Mother’s Day is the time to pamper your mother for all that she has done for you over the years.
“If you want to spoil her for once, Eagles Meadow is the place to come to ensure the perfect day out for the perfect mother.
“We are undoubtedly the capital of shopping in North Wales – and we have a fantastic array of stores to suit all tastes, including Debenhams, River Island, Next and M&S.
“One of the strengths of the centre is that it is not just about retail because there is also a very strong leisure element.
“You can start with breakfast in Starbuck’s, do all your shopping in all the retail outlets, have a family meal in one of our great restaurants and then enjoy some tenpin bowling before going to the cinema to watch a film.
“You can come here at 8am and leave at midnight and you can give that special mum in your life a day to remember!”
