A Stoke Newington pensioner celebrated her 109th birthday last Friday (August 12) after surviving Covid two years ago.
Angela Hutor visited a special morning mass on the day and then celebrated with cake and music at St Anne’s Home in Manor Road.
On being told her age, she could barely believe it and exclaimed "blimey" in surprise.
Daughter Pauline Hutor described her mother as “still very sharp” and “blessed on the whole with good health".
She added: “I think for someone as old as her, she was always very forward thinking, never judgemental and she wasn’t fazed by anything.
“She was very resourceful and hardworking; she still never complains and just gets on with it. She’s stoical like that and always had a sense of duty.”
Angela was born in 1913 and moved to England from Cannes, France, with her Italian father, Giuseppe, when she was eight. Her mother had died when Angela was only a few months old.
After finishing boarding school in Chelsea, Angela worked as a hotel receptionist, nanny, seamstress and shorthand typist.
Having also lived through the 1918 Spanish Flu, Angela is believed to be the oldest survivor of Covid after having contracted the virus in 2020.
Pauline said: “She’s a really intelligent woman. She’s multilingual and speaks a bit of German, Italian, French, English and she learned Russian when she was 84.”
She said her mother loves general knowledge tests and can still name almost all the capital cities in the world.
Pauline praised the staff at St Anne’s who provide “everything you could possibly want”.
The care home is currently appealing for help to fund a new programme of heating upgrades including repairing three boilers and renewing hot water pumps before the winter.
The home is holding a Strawberry Tea on the Lawn event on Sunday August 21, for which tickets are available at reception.
Donations can be made by cheques payable to Little Sisters of the Poor and posted to Little Sisters of the Poor, St Anne’s Care Home, 77 Manor Road, London, N16 5BL or online on www.littlesistersofthepoor.co.uk/donate-here/
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