NEARING HER CENTENARY

 

CREWE LADY'S RECIPE FOR
LONG LIFE

 

"HARD WORK"

 

In the course of the next few weeks a Crewe resident will be celebrating her 100th birthday.  She is Mrs Sarah Pearson.

On visiting her at her home in West Avenue a "Chronicle" reporter was introduced to a delightfully engaging old lady, possessed of a degree of mental activity remarkable in one so advanced in years.  She can converse on topics associated with the early days of Queen Victoria or on present-day affairs.  It was three years [sic] before the young Queen ascended the throne that Mrs Pearson first saw the light of day at Prees, and it was in the parish church of the Shropshire town that she was christened and married.  She recalls when she was employed at Marbury Hall, Whitchurch, during which period her father, the late Mr. George Roscoe [sic], was a gardener at Hawkstone Hall.  He died in 1872, and it was in the same year that Mrs Pearson married.  About 65 years ago she and her husband came to Crewe from the Manchester district, and for half a century Mr Pearson was a boilermaker in Crewe Railway works.  Mrs Pearson was bereft of her husband in 1919, and since then she has had as her companion Mrs Holland.  The latter, also a widow, is in her 86th year, and considers herself comparatively young!

Although her hearing is good, Mrs Pearson is now unable to read, owing to failing eyesight, and her appetite for news is supplied by Mrs Holland.  Neither appears to have a care in the world, and their happiness lies in the simplicity of their daily routine.

Asked for the secret of her longevity, Mrs Pearson's homely wrinkled face lighted up with a smile, and with an almost imperceptible snort, she replied "Hard work!"  To that and simple living must be attributed her long life.  Naturally, she is eagerly looking forward to her birthday, and "Chronicle" readers will join with us in the hope that we shall have the opportunity of tendering her congratulations on the great event.

 

[From the "Chronicle"; overleaf letters refer to Sandbach and Congleton and are dated January 30th; probably a Congleton paper. Note also that this account puts her birth in 1834 since Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. Hence it is probably before she found that she was "Only 99".]

 

99 – BUT THOUGHT HERSELF 100

 

Now She Has to Wait
Another Year

 

A BIRTHDAY ERROR

 

From Our Own Correspondent

CREWE, Saturday

 

Mrs. Sarah Pearson, West Avenue, Crewe, during preparations to celebrate her 100th birthday, discovered that she is only 99!

Her birthday is to-morrow, and she will have to wait another year before she can describe herself a centenarian.

She still retains, however, the honour of being the oldest inhabitant of the borough.  Her companion is Mrs Holland, aged 86, who has lived with Mrs Pearson since the death of the latter's husband in 1919.

NOT INFALLIBLE

Mrs Pearson is a native of Prees, Shropshire.

Mrs Pearson took her disappointment stoically. "Although I was looking forward to the great day with feelings of pleasure," she said, "I am not going to give up hope about reaching my 100th birthday.

"I shall have another 12 months to think about it, and they say that to live in anticipation is just as good as the realisation."

Asked how she had made the error in the year of her birth, she said, "You cannot expect us old 'uns to be infallible!

BIBLE RECORDS

"There were no birth certificates in my young days, and it is a good job that we took the precaution to make records in our Bibles.

"it is evident now that I was born in 1835, and no matter how you twist the figures I shall not be 100 until next March."

Mrs Pearson has lived in Crewe for 65 years.  She came from Manchester.  In those days Crewe was a mere hamlet.

 

[from an unknown newspaper. There is also overleaf a report on the latest Manchester United match.]