| abstract | - Ena Sharples (née Schofield) was a resident of Coronation Street for many years, and a prominent member of the community in her role as caretaker at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, and later the street's Community Centre. A gossip at heart, Ena prided herself on knowing more about her neighbours than they thought she did. She was a fixture in the snug of the Rovers Return Inn, where she and her lifelong friends and fellow widows Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst often spent their time discussing the lives of the other Street residents. An outspoken, forceful personality, Ena wasn't afraid to speak her mind and didn't shy away from telling people what she thought of them in person. Her interfering nature had driven both her daughters, Madge Sharples and Vera Lomax, away from her. Despite this, Ena was fiercely devoted to her friends and family and saw any interference on her part as for their own good. Having married Alfred Sharples in 1920, Ena had been a widow since 1937 but never re-married. In 1980, with the Community Centre being re-developed, and most of Ena's friends long since having died or moved away, Ena left the Street to live in Lytham St. Anne's and never returned.
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