In the 1960\u2019s fewer than 300 people in Britain had reached the age of one hundred. Today there are more than 6,000, a number expected to swell to 40,000 in thirty years time. Stephen Moss of The Guardian interviewed eight centenarians to ask them what it feels like to be so old.<\/p>\n
Harry Walker who lives in a care home in Worcestershire suggests that it is great fun, being old. In earlier years he was a teacher but also- a keen sports man himself- he became a regular sports commentator for the B.B.C. Headmaster of four different schools, he is still visited by some of his ex-pupils. \u2018On my 100th.birthday I had three letters from girls I had taught in the early 1930\u2019s. Then last week one of the them rang me up and said, Mr walker, you don\u2019t remember me, but you taught me and I should love to come and see you\u2026.I don\u2019t fear death at all. I can\u2019t say I am a religious person, but I believe there\u2019s something waiting for me.\u2019<\/p>\n
Lotte Erde lives in a nursing home in Nottinghamshire, having lived much of her life in hotels managed by her husband. \u2018I had ups and downs as you always do, but on the whole I had a very happy life\u2026I couldn\u2019t live in a better place than this\u2019 she says. She always knew she would reach a hundred. \u2018I\u2019m healthy; I\u2019ve eaten properly; we were brought up fairly strictly to understand that we should walk if we wanted to go somewhere. When I wanted a bicycle, my father said, if you were born with wheels you\u2019d have a bicycle, but you\u2019ve got good strong legs and they\u2019re to walk on\u2019.<\/p>\n
Harold and Lucy Allgood live in their bungalow in Weymouth. At seventy years, they are Britain\u2019s longest-married couple. Harold was in the navy for thirty years and then re-trained as an accountant. They married hurriedly without much approval from their families; they were together for only six weeks before he was posted to China. \u2018Children have more chance, more hope, they\u2019re better educated\u2019 says Lucy. \u2018they\u2019ve more to look forward to. They live their own lives, they have their own choice and they must abide by what happens to them. I don\u2019t want to live the old ways. They were too rigid. I don\u2019t want to go back, I\u2019d rather go forward.\u2019<\/p>\n
Nora Hardwick lives in Lincolnshire and is a local celebrity. A councillor for 39 years, she still runs the local whist drive, raises money for charity and drives her car (\u2018I\u2019ve had a few bumps\u2019 she says!). She doesn\u2019t think at all about her age. \u2018I don\u2019t feel any different than when I was in my seventies, apart from I can\u2019t walk so well\u2026.I try to look forwards. It\u2019s other people who made the fuss about my birthday\u2019 Nora had been to several funerals recently of people much younger than she. \u2018I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll go to any funerals\u2019 she says.\u2019I\u2019ll not go until I go to my own.\u2019<\/p>\n
Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the 1960\u2019s fewer than 300 people in Britain had reached the age of one hundred. Today there are more than 6,000, a number expected to swell to 40,000 in thirty years time. Stephen Moss of The Guardian interviewed eight centenarians to ask them what it feels like to be so old. Harry Walker who lives in a care home in Worcestershire suggests that it is great fun, being old. In earlier years he was a teacher but also- a keen sports man himself- he became a regular sports commentator for the B.B.C. Headmaster of four different schools, he is <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"yoast_head":"\n