A WOMAN who was known as "Mam" to hundreds of children in the Darlington area has died at the age of 76.

For nearly 30 years, Janey Wardell was matron at children's homes in the town - first in Eastbourne Road and then from 1962 until she retired in 1990, in Salters Lane.

She lived in the homes and at any time had up to 25 children in her care.

"She was mother to literally hundreds of children, and most of them called her 'mam'," said her son Christopher. "Many of them continued to visit her for a cuppa right up to her dying day."

Janey was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, but followed her brother over to the North-East when she was a teenager.

Her first job was in the Hollyhill home in Shildon in 1956 before moving to Darlington in 1961.

In retirement she lived on Haughton Green. Her husband, also Christopher, was a welder at Shildon railway workshops for a week short of 40 years. He died in 1982.

Janey died last Friday. She leaves her three children, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren - as well as the hundreds who knew her as "Mam".

Her funeral is on Monday at 12.30pm at St Anne's Roman Catholic Church.