As Farrarmere resident Margaret Pipe celebrates another year, age is not a factor in her ability to entertain anyone around her.
Celebrating her 105th birthday on September 25, Margaret recalled the performance group she had started several years ago.
“The group was called The Jolly Joy Bells,” Pipe said. “We used to perform to entertain the people at old-age homes.”
Andrea Flitcroft, the owner of Blessings Home, where Margaret lives, said Margaret never fails to entertain anyone who visits despite her old age.
“Margaret recites poetry. We take quizzes every night to keep her brain active and when the paramedics attend to someone in the home, she never fails to recite a few stories for them,” said Flitcroft.
“She is taken care of by the staff: Sunday, Kate, Judy, Nozie and Lucy. “She always has a happy personality and is strong and talented.”
ALSO READ: Watch: Boksburg High celebrates 100 years of grooming bright futures
The centenarian was born in England and spent some of her married life in Brixton, where she lived through World War II. She and her husband, Robert, had a bomb shelter in the basement and every night when the sirens began, they ran to the shelter.
The couple moved to South Africa in 1947 and settled in Boksburg, as Robert was given an opportunity to run a scaffolding business. He built several houses in Benoni and Boksburg. Robert died in 2006 after 70 years of marriage.
Margaret grew fond of painting and became an artist in her 40s, among her other talents of performing and being an author.
One of her poetry books titled Classified Poems was written in 1973 and was dedicated to her mother, Harriet Chaplan Mann.
Not only is Margaret an extraordinary woman, but she also carries the memory of her aunt who was a survivor of the RMS Titanic that sank in 1912.
Margaret has six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
“She is known as Nana Sweetheart because she used to call her grandchildren this,” said the wife of one of her grandsons, Debbie Moore.
Nana Sweetheart celebrated her birthday in an intimate gathering with loved ones at her home.
ALSO READ: Watch: Celebrating 100 years of memories
