Lunch date for May Brinckley, 106 - Westminster's oldest resident guest of honour at senior citizen event

SHE has lived through both world wars, rubbed shoulders with royalty and, as far as anyone knows, is Westminster’s oldest resident.

And she has just been guest of honour at a lunch laid on by green-fingered Queen’s Park resident Mary Doherty.

Mrs Doherty, whose gardens have won numerous awards, invited 12 elderly neighbours into her home as part of a scheme champ­ioned by the West­minster Senior Citizens Forum.

One of those was May Brinckley, 106, who has lived in Queen’s Park all her life.

Mrs Brinckley, (pictured with Ms Doherty) who worked in a printing press in Regent Street in her childhood, expressed a wish to meet Prince Charles at her 105th birthday last year.

Her wish soon came true when she found herself in the same room as the prince at a ceremony at the Royal College of Music. The prince listened intently as she shared with him her wartime memories.

“Mr Hitler wasn’t putting me in an air raid shelter,” she told him. 

Although another of her wishes, to meet David Cameron, is as yet un­fulfilled, she did receive a signed letter from the Prime Minister earlier this year.  

The functions were the brainchild of Anne Mallinson, chairwoman of Westminster Senior Citizens Forum, who has succeeded in obtaining a grant of £2,354 from Voluntary Action Westminster to sponsor 20 lunches. 

She said: “The idea of arranging these lunches is that you can create the opportunity for individuals to come across one another in the local shops. Many of these elderly people attend functions routinely. Therefore, I thought it would be nice to have these lunches in people’s homes, which would make the whole scheme feel much more personal.”

Published: 15 July 2011
by JOSH LOEB and REBECCA SHEPPARD