My Account
Anzac Day was an extra special occasion for Stanmore Bay resident Mary Davies this year, as she celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends.
Surrounded by dozens of cards, flowers and a large square cake, the still quite sprightly centenarian said she had enjoyed a lovely time at the home she shares with her daughter, Lesley.
Mary moved to New Zealand with her husband in 1989 from Wallington, near Croydon, in south London.
“My daughter emigrated and we came out for holidays a couple of times and my husband said there’s no point in us keep running backwards and forwards all this way, so we moved out here,” she said. “I love it here, it’s nice and quiet and the scenery is lovely.”
The couple lived on the North Shore until Mary’s husband died 10 years ago, when she moved in with Lesley.
“We’d been married for 70 years,” Mary said. “We met during the war, when he worked for Philips in their laboratory and I worked on assembly lines that supplied ammunition, and from then on we were always together.”
Mary still enjoys knitting and crochet, making blankets and clothing for herself, and she loves feeding and watching the birds outside her bedroom window. However, she admits she finds a few aspects of reaching such a great age a little frustrating.
“I’ve had an active life and it’s difficult to accept that I can’t do what I want any more. And I can remember the past more easily that what I did yesterday,” she said.
Mary said she didn’t have any secrets to achieving longevity, though admitted she did enjoy a Baileys at weekends.
