Centenarian Kent Care Home Resident Shares Wartime Stories to Mark International Women’s Day

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, resident Annie Hardy (103) at RMBI Care Co Home Prince George Duke of Kent Court in Chislehurst recalls her own hardships in life and, urges today’s generation to work hard and remain debt free Annie was born on 16 June 1919 in Rotherhithe When the Second World War broke out, she accompanied her younger siblings to go and live safely with relatives in Wales

However Annie returned to London to take her chances She then worked in a munitions factory making bombs for the British army When the war was over Annie worked in the print and bookbinding industry until she retired almost 40 years ago

As a child Annie was a bright student and passed the exams to attend a grammar school “Unfortunately, I couldn’t go My parents weren t able to afford the uniform!” she says Despite this she recalls her childhood fondly having fun with her six siblings and visiting pie and mash shops in Rotherhithe and Tower Bridge Road

Some time after her first husband sadly passed away Annie remarried and gained a stepson Although she widowed again, Annie has had a good family and a circle of friends with whom she travelled around the globe She has been to Brazil Bulgaria Italy and Spain, and enjoyed a trip on Concorde around the Bay of Biscay and back with champagne when she turned 80

The staff at Prince George Duke of Kent Court, where she has lived for five years, knew that Annie has always loved pie and mash They kindly arranged a trip to London for her where she had the opportunity to enjoy pie and mash at Manze s in Deptford Manze s is one of the last few original pie and mash shops left which Annie used to visit when she was a child back in the 1920s

Despite the hardships in her life Annie will turn 104 in June and her face is always bright with a smile How does she do it? My secret to a long life she reveals is good home-cooked food, keeping busy, working hard and no debts!”

Gillingham Care Home Resident Shares Remarkable Stor y For International Women’s Day

A resident at Care South s Gillingham care home Fern Brook Lodge has shared her remarkable life story in celebration of International Women’s Day

Myrtha Parsons-Biedermann known as Myra was born in Switzerland in 1927 and in 1947 after seeing an advert to act as paid help in a country estate in Chipping Norton Oxfordshire left her life in Switzerland with her friend Martha and began her new adventure in England

Myra and Martha alighted a train at London Victoria in June 1947 with no idea how to get to the country estate and unable to speak a word of English A woman in uniform helped them and they discovered there were no more trains to Chipping Norton that day Myra and Martha had to sleep on sofas in the lounge of a hotel before getting a train the next day At every stop they asked: “Chipping Norton?” until they finally arrived and were met by a driver

Myra began her work alongside Martha a butler a footman lady s maid cook two kitchen hands and three housemaids There were 11 servants in total including the two Swiss girls On occasion Myra and Martha went into Oxford where they met two English soldiers, one of whom Myra started a relationship with and would write to using a dictionary to pick out words as her English was still poor

On 28th February 1948, Myra married Roy Evan Parsons at Oxford Register after only knowing each other a few months and lost her Swiss citizenship rights becoming British by marriage Six months after starting her job at Barton Abbey Myra quit and moved into Roy s mother s house while Roy had to return to an army base in Dusseldorf Myra took a variety of jobs including working on the sweet counter at

Woolworths where chocolates sweets and liquorice were still rationed

Myra travelled home to Winznau while Roy was still in Dusseldorf but her money only got her as far as Basel She left her passport and address with the police and managed to continue her journey to Winznau where she stayed with her parents for a few months until Roy returned to Oxford In 1951 Myra and Roy had a baby girl Yvonne who was born at the Military hospital in Wuppertal and they rented a large apartment overlooking the River Rhein Myra and Yvonne spent many years travelling around including living in Malaysia for a couple of years while Roy fought in the war between South Korea and North Korea

Later they returned to England to live in Woking until 1960 when the British Army let Roy go at the age of 34 due to personnel cuts He received a redundancy fee and a small pension and the family all moved back to Switzerland

Seven years after Roy s death Myra met Sidney who became her late love They travelled far and wide together and regularly met to play Bridge Myra now lives at Fern Brook Lodge care home in the north Dorset countryside under the care of Care South which employs a large number of female employees all of whom have been sent a thank you card to mark the day Myra said I do not regret anything I have done in my lifetime and moving to England was the best decision I have ever made ”

To hear more from Myra about her life at Fern Brook Lodge visit the Care South website here: www care-south co uk/video/myra-interview/