06 | MARCH 2018 | LIVING in Havering
News
Remembering When you speak to many elderly residents about their recollections of air raids in London you would expect them to be talking about the Battle of Britain in 1940 or V2 rockets in 1944, but when you ask Doris Veale about one of her earliest memories and she says “air raids”, she’s talking about bombs being dropped from Zeppelins during the First World War!
Doris celebrates her 107th birthday
In January Doris celebrated her 107th birthday at her home in Gidea Park and Living in Havering believes she's the oldest resident in the borough. She moved to her present home in 1960. Born in London in 1911 she left school at 14. Her first job was working in an office for Mullards who manufactured valves for radios. Readers of a certain age may recall the days when you had to wait for the valves to warm up before you could listen to your favourite programme “on the wireless”. Married at 21, she was introduced to her husband-to-be by a colleague at the office. He worked for the oil company Shell in the City. “It was love at first sight”, said Doris, and they were married soon after at St Pauls’ Church in Woodford Bridge. “We didn’t have a honeymoon in those days and I was back at work straight after the wedding”, said Doris. The lack of a honeymoon didn’t damage their love affair as they remained married for 58 years. Doris had a big party to celebrate her 100th birthday but her 107th was a more low-key affair, although Doris did confess she was a having a sherry or two to mark the amazing milestone. Asked what her secret to long life was, Doris replied; “I don’t really know but I think it’s the carers who come and look after me, my family and good food!”
27 Apr - 26 May Queens’s Theatre Hornchurch presents the regional premiere of
PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT the Musical Book by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott Based on the Latent Image/Specific Films Motion Picture Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. Produced by NULLARBOR PRODUCTIONS In association with MGM ON STAGE Orchestrations by Stephen ‘Spud’ Murphy Musical Arrangements and Orchestr Developed for the Stage and Originally Directed by Simon Phillips Additional Orchestrations and Arrangements by Adam Gerber Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is presented through special arrangement with and all authorised performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW), 122-124 Regent Street, 3rd floor, London W1B 5SA. www.theatricalrights.co.uk