Minnie Caldwell Minnie Caldwell ( née Carlton ) was a Coronation Street resident from 1962 to 1976 . A widow by the 1960s , Minnie lived at No . 5 with her beloved cat Bobby . She was a fixture in the snug of the Rovers Return Inn along with her pensioner friends Ena Sharples and Martha Longhurst . A soft - spoken , simple - minded woman , Minnie appeared docile compared to her overbearing companions , and was frequently bossed around by them . She didn ' t share their obsession with complaining and criticising , preferring to enjoy life , even though she was not wealthy , continually struggling to live on her pension money . To help pay the bills , Minnie often took in lodgers at No . 5 , including Charlie Moffitt , Joe Donelli and her favourite , " Sunny Jim " Jed Stone , who became the son Minnie never had . Minnie ' s determination to follow her dreams occasionally led to disaster however as she battled a gambling addiction in 1969 . In 1976 , Minnie moved to Whaley Bridge to live with her friend Handel Gartside . Biography . 1900 - 1960 : Working life . Minnie Carlton was born on 26th September 1900 to Bob and Amy Carlton , and lived at 15 Jubilee Terrace , around the corner from Coronation Street , until 1962 . During her schooling days at Hardcastle ' s Factory School in Silk Street , she met some of her lifelong friends including Handel Gartside , Ena Schofield and Martha Hartley . Her mother was a suffragette and she assisted her , they were moved on from Albert Square . She also worked as tram conductress and in the munitions factories in both World War I and World War II . She married Armistead Caldwell in 1925 after being bullied into it by Ena , but Minnie and Armistead never had any children and Armistead died in 1935 . By 1939 Minnie was living alone with her widowed mother . Amy Carlton could intimidate anyone , even Ena Sharples , but her health wound down and by war ' s end she rarely left bed . In 1944 , Minnie began hearing noises in her home and became convinced the place was haunted , leading Leonard Swindley to conduct an exorcism . The noises continued , and Elsie Tanner discovered a young , very weak boy hidden in Minnie ' s attic . Young ( around four years old ) Ken Barlow helped convince him to leave the attic , and they learned he was Dieter Holliman , a young German boy who had emigrated to Britain with his mother as World War II beckoned ; after his mother ' s death he ' d been put in an orphanage and had run away due to abuse . He ' d been hiding in the house , stealing food when Minnie wasn ' t around . Minnie nursed him back to health , and Ena convinced the authorities to let him stay with Minnie . Dieter stayed with her for nearly a year , but as the war wound down , his uncle arrived to take him back to Germany . By 1960 , she was taking care of her elderly mother after retiring from Earnshaw ' s Mill . 1960 - 1964 : The quiet one . When Minnie started collecting her pension , most of her time was spent either looking after her mother in Jubilee Terrace or spending time with Ena and Martha , who by now were also both widows . Generally they could be found drinking milk stout in the Rovers Return snug , slyly but shamelessly passing judgement on their neighbours ( as well as each other ) . Minnie was the quietest of the three , and being quite satisfied with her life , usually spent most conversations on the defensive from the criticisms of her aggressive friends . When Ena quit her job at the Mission Hall in 1961 , she moved in with Minnie and her mother , and quickly dominated the house . It wasn ' t for a few months that Ena was offered her job back , and she went home , tired of Minnie ' s bossy mother and her cat , Bobby . In the coming months , Minnie ' s mother ' s health declined , and she died in her bed a short time later , aged 94 . Unwilling to go on living in the same house , Minnie moved to 5 Coronation Street with Bobby . Facing a rent increase , Minnie ' s finances were strained until she took in Jed Stone as a lodger . Childless Minnie ' s life was brightened by Jed ' s presence , even though he had a criminal past ( which gave Ena a reason to dislike him ) . Jed looked upon Minnie as a mother figure and called her " Ma " , and when he returned home to Liverpool , he didn ' t know how to tell Minnie and did a midnight flit . Minnie was devastated that " Sunny Jim " , as she called him , had left so suddenly and left her in financial difficulty again . In 1964 , Minnie briefly took over Martha ' s job at Viaduct Sporting Club while Martha was away . Owing to dodgy building work , Minnie fell through the bannister and tore a ligament . Minnie was fine , but the guilty party paid for a holiday for Minnie while her solicitors sued Len Fairclough . An out - of - court settlement was reached , but while Minnie was away at the seaside Martha died of a heart attack . Minnie returned in time for the funeral . 1964 - 1967 : Money troubles . Shortly after Martha ' s death , Minnie took in comic Charlie Moffitt as a lodger . With him came his greyhound Little Titch , six rabbits , and eight pigeons . Minnie enjoyed mothering the accident - prone , unfunny comedian , but wasn ' t pleased when he and Stan Ogden started brewing beer in her front room , telling her it was tonic wine . She and Emily Nugent opened one of the bottles and proceeded to get drunk , but were more than startled when all the remaining bottles exploded . When Charlie left to pursue a career in show business , Minnie was adamant that she wasn ' t going to have any more lodgers , as it upset her too much when they left . 1966 was a struggle for Minnie , who had spent her pension on a new coat instead of paying for enough coal for the fire to heat her home . She hid away from Ena , who would only disapprove of her spending habits , choosing instead to sit in a cold house . Ena found out and offered to pay the money she owed for the coat , but Minnie wouldn ' t let her . Eventually Jed returned and paid the money back with Ena ' s help . Unfortunately , Jed didn ' t stay long this time , as the police had a warrant for his arrest for handling stolen blankets . With Minnie confined to bed for exhaustion , Jed stayed until she was better , planning to leave after her birthday party the next day , but the police caught up with him at Number 5 . To avoid upsetting Minnie , Jed convinced the police officer to pretend to be a friend of his , and that he was leaving to visit a friend . Though she was devastated , Minnie pretended to be fooled so Jed wouldn ' t feel bad . Things started to improve for Minnie when she auctioned Jed ' s belongings , as Jed had requested , and a brooch turned out to be worth £15 . Later that year , Minnie applied for a supplementary pension , allowing her to support herself without needing a lodger . However , in 1967 , when Minnie ' s insurance policy matured and she received £72 , Minnie was conned by two men who posed as plumbers to fix her chimney before taking £52 of the money when she wasn ' t looking . 1968 - 1971 : Gambling problems and Handel ' s return . In 1968 , the Mission and the vestry were demolished , leaving Ena homeless . Minnie took Ena in , but she got on Ena ' s nerves again , as Ena thought her mind was on Bobby the cat too much . Ena was frustrated because the demolition of the Mission Hall had forced her into retirement . Ena ' s stay was a brief one , and she moved into one of the maisonettes across the street . Bobby went missing later in the year , but Minnie took in a stray cat , calling it Sunny Jim ( after Jed ) . Minnie was going through a phase where she was regularly going to the betting shop and betting on horses . Though she occasionally won , Ena made it clear how she felt about it , and was worried for Minnie . The local bookie Dave Smith encouraged Minnie , incurring Ena ' s wrath , but he put a stop to it when Minnie had run up a debt of £10 and was unable to pay it back . Elsie Tanner convinced Dave to cancel the debt , but when Ena rowed with him for picking on an old woman , he changed his mind and gave Minnie 24 hours to pay the money . Ashamed , Minnie fled Weatherfield . Ena found Minnie in hospital , suffering from pneumonia after sleeping rough . Dave arrived at her bedside , flowers in hand , telling her he was wiping the slate clean , but that he was limiting her betting to 2 / - a week . Minnie was thrilled in 1970 when her old flame Handel Gartside returned after 30 years living in Canada and briefly lodged with her . Ena had never been keen on Handel , but Minnie liked his company and was disappointed when he said he only wanted to be friends with her . Surprisingly , Albert Tatlock was jealous of Minnie ' s affection for Handel . When he left , Minnie took in Joe Donelli , who had been demobbed from the US army . Minnie didn ' t know that in 1968 Joe killed Steve Tanner , Elsie ' s husband , and wasn ' t of a sound mind . After threatening Irma Barlow , Joe took refuge in No . 5 , holding Minnie hostage , scared of being prosecuted for Steve ' s murder . Minnie and Sunny Jim ( now called Bobby ) were freed when Stan Ogden offered to remain in her place . Rather than face arrest , Joe took his own life . Unwilling to live alone , Minnie stayed with Albert for a while . Albert ' s jealousy was brought back when Handel returned to check on Minnie after the ordeal , ultimately offering to move in with her . Again , he only stayed briefly , returning to Whaley Bridge when she was settled back into her house . 1971 - 1976 : Later years in the Street . In 1971 , Minnie swore she ' d never take another lodger again , but this , coupled with the confusion brought on by decimalisation , made this a difficult time for her . Ena started spending long periods away from the Street , so Minnie spent more time with Albert . In 1973 , Albert popped the question , hoping that if Minnie and he were married and living in the same house their money troubles would be sorted . Minnie wanted to ask Ena first , but in a misunderstanding Ena thought Albert was proposing to " her " , and accepted ! Minnie said yes to Albert , glad to have someone to spend her old age with . After three months of engagement , Minnie asked Albert to fix a date for the wedding , but Ena warned her that despite what they thought , they would be financially burdened , receiving less as a married couple than individually . Already growing annoyed by Albert ' s habits , Minnie told him she didn ' t want to marry him anymore . After hearing about the money situation , Albert was happy it was over . Late in 1974 , Minnie was expecting a visit from Sunny Jim himself , Jed Stone , but his cellmate Eddie Yeats , on parole , showed up instead and told her Jed couldn ' t make it . Remembering Jed fondly , Minnie took Eddie in . Well - meaning Eddie made extra money by burgling houses , but Minnie didn ' t know about it and inadvertently shopped Eddie to the police by handing over a suitcase containing stolen goods . 1976 - 2008 : Post - Weatherfield life . In the mid - 1970s , Minnie visited Handel Gartside in Whaley Bridge more and more often . After one visit in 1976 , she never returned to Coronation Street - she decided to stay permanently with Handel , and leave No . 5 , all without telling Ena , who was horrified to see a ' for sale ' sign go up in the Street ( after the landlord decided to sell the house ) . Handel visited Weatherfield and told Ena that Minnie was afraid that if she came back , Ena would talk her out of going . As he took Minnie ' s belongings out of her old house , he told Ena he would take care of her . At some point later Minnie passed away . In 2008 her former lodger Jed Stone was seen with a photograph of Minnie on his mantelpiece , and a box containing photographs of them together in the 1960s . He spoke about her to Emily Bishop when the pair crossed paths in November that year , and Jed mentioned how he regretted being arrested on her birthday . Personality . Minnie Caldwell appeared most of the time to be a quiet and simple old lady . Concerned mainly with her friends and her cat , Minnie tended to obsess with matters others thought trivial at best , especially if they were important to her . Despite her many hardships , what affected Minnie most was the loss of something that held fond memories for her . Much to her friend Ena ’ s frustration , Minnie had aspirations to improve her lifestyle that were perhaps foolhardy and weren ’ t practical , such as making major purchases even though she couldn ' t afford it . Her gambling phase started from her desire to live out her lifelong dreams . A vulnerable person , Minnie didn ' t like conflict or confrontations , but she wasn ' t afraid to speak her mind if she felt her words needed to be heard . Most of the time , she had a smile on her face and was a fixture in the community in Coronation Street , regularly helping her neighbours if they needed it . Relationships . Ena Sharples . Minnie was a year below Ena Sharples at school , and their friendship dated from that time . As pensioners , Ena and Minnie had many disagreements , brought on by the fact that both were so different . Whereas Minnie had a rather simple view of the world and went out of her way to help people , Ena was a cynic and thought Minnie was naïve . Ena tended to boss Minnie around , mainly to talk her out of her daft ideas , but Minnie thought Ena was too closedminded and interfering . Despite this , Minnie and Ena were very close . Ena ' s intrusiveness was part of her nature , but with regards to Minnie it was also partially borne out of protectiveness , as she knew others would take advantage of the impulsive and overly trusting Minnie . While Minnie was also fond of Ena , looking upon her as her best friend , she generally coped well in Ena ' s absence , even when she was worried about her , such as when Ena was missing after a train crashed through the viaduct over the Street in 1967 . However , on occasions where Minnie ' s wellbring was in doubt , Ena was beside herself with worry . Perhaps crucially , Minnie was one of the few Street residents who could silence Ena , usually with a cutting remark delivered with finesse worthy of Ena herself , once Ena had sounded off . Though their friendship was a constant battle , Minnie and Ena were always there for each other and whenever Ena was ill , or was unable or unwilling to live at the Mission , Minnie provided her with a bed , though always hoped it was temporary ! Martha Longhurst . Until her death in 1964 , Martha Longhurst was also close to Minnie . Martha was a gossip , as Ena was , so conversations between the three women were usually dominated by Ena and Martha , with Minnie taking on a minimal role . However , Ena was very much the ringleader of the group , and could easily talk over Martha , and as such Martha usually opted to seek out Minnie for day - to - day chitchat rather than Ena , who would turn the conversation into something negative . When with Martha only , Minnie was more talkative than when Ena was around . During Martha and Ena ' s ( frequent ) disagreements , Minnie usually sided with Martha , as Ena was usually resentful of them both when either had let her down . Jed Stone . Minnie often lamented the fact that she had never had children . She took in Jed Stone as a lodger in 1961 in sympathy when his friend Dennis ' s mum Elsie Tanner refused to put him up . Jed had a criminal background but he had turned over a new leaf , trying out a variety of get - rich - quick schemes in an effort to make money . Minnie was excited by his lifestyle and his antics were a frequent point of reference for her during her conversations with Ena and Martha , much to their chagrin . Minnie called Jed " Sunny Jim " , and later gave her cat the same name in his honour . Although Jed left Weatherfield abruptly later in 1961 , he returned several times and Minnie was always glad to have him back . She came to look upon him as the son she never had , and she had a constant smile on her face when he was around . Although Jed cared about Minnie and looked out for her , he was not above lying to her when his activities weren ' t legal . He stored stolen goods at No . 5 without Minnie ' s knowledge and was caught by the police . This didn ' t tarnish Minnie ' s opinion of him , and memories of Jed continued to bring delight to her in later years . Quotes . " If it ' s anything like that , don ' t tell me , I don ' t want to ' ear . " ( First line , to Martha Longhurst and Ena Sharples ) " I hope she does like it . Thank you very much . " ( Final line , to Rita Littlewood )