“I was born on October 22nd, 1917. I was very young, but I still remember the sound of bombs falling on the city. I lived in Stoke Newington most of my life and worked as a dressmaker in Hackney in my brother’s factory. I loved making dresses.
Living kept me going. You must keep living even when the going gets tough. The second world war was very hard for me and my family, it was 5 long hard years. I had a daughter, but she died tragically at the age of 42. After my daughter died, I had to keep going, I couldn’t let myself go to pieces. I have no hearing aids; I don’t wear glasses and I am still mobile. I think my siblings and I have good genes, my eldest brother died at 100.
I arrived at Nightingale Hammerson in October, 2 weeks before my 106th birthday. Before that I was living on my own at home with an occasional carer. I realised it was too much for me to look after myself, so I decided to move to Hammerson House.
I’m happy here, this is my home now. I can relax and I know I will be looked after. It’s jolly here and I like the quizzes, I do really well in the quizzes. I enjoy the concerts and in the last one, the musicians even sang me a special happy birthday song!” – Resident, 106 years young
