Barbara Windsor’s widower pays tribute to Jewish Care for ‘love and care’ shown to Eastenders’ star

Scott Mitchell at Jewish Care, where he talked about life with Barbara Windsor (Photo: Brandon Malinsky)[Missing Credit]

Scott was there last night to give a talk about his life with Barbara and his work battling the scourge of Alzheimer’s.

“Coming back here to Jewish Care is very poignant to me,” he said. “Tonight is the first time I’ve been here since the night I left Barbara after she passed. The first thing I did as I parked, was look straight into her room.”

He added: “I could not be more grateful to Jewish Care for the love and care shown to Barbara, and the kindness shown to both of us. It’s a wonderful organisation and they are wonderful care homes.”

Scott is Jewish. Barbara was not, but she had grown up with Jewish people and clearly felt a connection.

Scott told the JC: “Barbara always had an affinity with the Jewish community. She grew up in Stoke Newington after moving out of the East End.

“She mixed with a lot of Jewish people. She always had Jewish friends. She said that, as a youngster, she used to walk past the synagogues and she could hear the singing, and she found it very theatrical and emotional.”

Barbara Windsor attends the inauguration of the Hackney Empire Walk Of Fame in 2017 (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images

Barbara even talked of marrying into the faith when she was teenager. “Barbara said to her mum when she was 16: ‘I want to marry a Jewish cab driver!’ She ended up marrying the son of a Jewish cab driver which is a really lovely thing.”

Scott’s dad, Ronnie, was a London cabbie, and he and Scott’s mum, Rita, both knew Barbara long before their son got together with her.

Scott and Barbara became an item, despite the 26-year age gap. They were together for 27 years and married for 20.

Barbara spent a lot of time with his family. “She loved the nights when it was a Jewish holiday. She loved the Jewish traditions, the history, the closeness, the kindness,” he said.

Scott Mitchell and Barbara Windsor at the British Soap Awards in 2008 (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images

Scott’s dad died 18 months before Barbara and, although she was poorly, she was able to go to his funeral in Brighton.

Scott explained how Barbara stayed in the prayer hall with the older mourners, who couldn’t walk to the grave.

As he was heading back from the grave, Scott was told Barbara had been entertaining everyone in the prayer hall…..by tap dancing.

Reflecting on caring for Barbara as she battled with Alzheimer’s, he said: “There were some light-hearted moments through the journey, but watching a loved one live with Alzheimer’s/dementia is one of the most challenging things anyone can do,” he said.

“It’s an awful thing for the person with it but also such a painful thing for the family watching that person very slowly disappear. You’re powerless to help them. You just do your best.”

In a moving talk to a packed room, Scott told how the first sign of Barbara’s illness came in 2009, when she got home from a day on the EastEnders set and said her mind had gone “blank” at work. She then initially left EastEnders in 2010.

“I’d started to notice she was becoming a little bit withdrawn, which was very unlike her,” Scott said.

“A year later, I found the television control in the fridge, and that’s when I thought: ‘This is more than tiredness.’ ‘’

Barbara was finally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014.

Dame Barbara Windsor arrives with her husband Scott Mitchell in September, 2019 at 10 Downing Street, where they discussed dementia care with the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images

Scott explained how the illness progressed until the moment he had been dreading.

“I was helping her out of the bath, and she looked at me with a very frightened look in her eyes and said: “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

Scott knew it was time for Barbara to go into a care home.

Scott began trying to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and fundraise for research into the disease before Barbara died aged 83 in December 2020.

In 2019, Dame Barbara and Scott were the faces of Dementia Revolution – a joint campaign between Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s Society – which became Charity of the Year for the 2019 London Marathon and raised £4 million. Scott himself ran the marathon, helping to raise over £150,000 for the UK Dementia Research Institute.

The couple had met the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019, and after Barbara passed away, Scott urged Johnson to take action.

At a meeting with Scott, the prime minister was “visibly moved” and pledged to double dementia research funding to £160 million a year.

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme, formerly the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, was launched in 2022, with £95 million ring-fenced for research projects and clinical trials. Scott is the programme’s people’s champion.

Earlier this month, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a £48 million industry partnership for dementia research and new treatments, with £33 million going to the programme named after Barbara.

British actress Barbara Windsor, with her husband Scott Mitchell, poses with her insignia as she is appointed DBE in 2016 (Photo: Getty Images)POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Scott, a showbusiness agent, who represents Eastenders’ actress Lacey Turner, insisted: “I couldn't be prouder of what we’ve achieved in Barbara’s name.

“She has a second legacy, apart from being a very loved entertainer. Her name will now hopefully one day be associated with groundbreaking treatments. She won’t just be remembered for her bra flying off in Carry On Camping.”

He added: “Six years later, I continue to campaign. The ultimate aim is to find a cure one day but, in the meantime, everyone would be more than satisfied if we can find treatments that slow this right down, which stop people reaching the advanced stages of dementia.”

The gathering at Sandringham for “An Evening With Scott Mitchell” was organised by the Options Committee, an independent group which raises money for Jewish Care.

All the money raised from the night will go to funding art therapy sessions for dementia sufferers at The Zalman and Ruchi Noé Centre at Sandringham.

Scott Mitchell with JC writer Brandon Malinsky (Photo: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

Jewish Care CEO Daniel Carmel-Brown recalled how Scott didn’t think Barbara would be able to move to Anita Dorfman House because she was not Jewish.

He explained: “But I said to Scott: ‘Are you Jewish?’ And he said ‘Yes’. He then said he and Barbara had lived “a kind of Jewish life for many years”, and I said: ‘That’s good enough for us’, adding: “We were privileged to be able to look after Barbara for the months she was with us.”