West End Production of Oliver

When Kathryn Whittaker's son was cast in the West End production of Oliver! it wasn't just his life that changed.

The qualified dentist went to London with her eldest son for six months when the dancer won a part in the famous musical at the London Palladium.

Kathryn decided to take a job in a hotel and she loved the hospitality industry so much that she decided to swap fillings and pulling out teeth for a new career.

And the 45-year-old has now been appointed revenue manager at the Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa in Cobbler's Cross Lane, Tarporley.

"I qualified as a dentist so this is a total change for me," Kathryn said. "My son, Andrew, secured a part as a member of Fagin's gang in Oliver! and I had to go down to London with him for six months.

"I got a job in a hotel and I absolutely loved it. I never went back to work as a dentist."

Kathryn, who lives with her husband, Roger in Newcastle-under-Lyme, was previously revenue manager at the Mottram Hall Hotel Spa in Prestbury and The Thistle Hotel Liverpool and she was conference sales manager at the De Vere Daresbury Park Hotel in Warrington.

"I manage the conference and sales team as well as the front office team at Portal," she said. "I'm responsible for setting the accommodation and conference rates and I manage all the business that sales staff Christine Jones and Angela Grace bring in to the business.

"Portal has huge, huge potential. It is in a fabulous location and this area has been desperately in need of high quality accommodation and conferencing facilities.

"The staff are enthusiastic and want to make it a great success. The build of the hotel has been excellent and when The Spa opens in September it will be the icing on the cake."

Twenty-one-year-old Andrew is now working as a dancer on The Cunard Queen Mary 2 and 19-year-old Christopher has just graduated from the London Studio Centre in the capital.

PICTURE CAPTION: Kathryn Whittaker, the newly appointed revenue manager at the Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf and Spa in Tarporley