Bromley great grandma to celebrate 100th birthday with Covid

Edith Paine has lived at Adelaide care home in Bexleyheath for four years after having been a "Bromley girl" all her life.

She lived in her family home in Birch Row, Coppice Estate for 60 years with her husband George and five children Beryl, Rita, Roger, Jeffrey and Valerie.

One of Edith’s son Jeffery, 65, told the News Shopper: “I saw mum in the home last week and we all say to her ‘mum do you know how old you are?’ and she says 'no I am not'.

"She just doesn't believe it.

“We think she just has such a strong heart.

“She will put everybody before herself as she always has done.

"She used to get up and make everybody a cup of tea and tell you to just sit down.

"She is such a lovely mum and always has been.”

Edith also has eight grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren.

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The family visit the care home as often as they can but say that it has been difficult during the pandemic.

“She has got her marbles, but she does lose them now and again,” Jeff said.

“At one point she was in there for a whole year and couldn’t see any of us because of Covid.

“We managed to go and see her through the window, but she kept calling us to come in, and trying to talk to her with a mask on was hard as she would normally lip-read what we are saying.”

Unfortunately, Edith tested positive for Covid over the weekend - which has canceled the plans of a family visit for her 100th birthday.

Jeff's wife, Lorraine says Edith has a mild cough but describes her as "bomb proof" as she previously survived Covid without any symptoms.

The family were also unable to visit her last year on her birthday because of Covid restrictions.

Edith met her husband George when she was enrolled in the Women's Auxilliary Air Force where she drove a lorry during the war.

After the war, Edith went back to being a passenger and every weekend the couple would drive to the coast in Folkestone where he would fish, and she would sit in the van and knit.

She then worked as a cleaner and used to cycle long distances to clients' houses on her bike.

Jeff describes Edith's husband George, and his dad, as a “bit of a character”, and he worked as a labourer and died on Christmas Eve 2000 at the age of 81.

Jeff said: “She used to love us going round every weekend for a roast and dad always used to expect us to turn up on the Saturday for a family gathering. It was lovely.

“We all used to go to mums for Christmas and take our sleeping bags and sleep on the floor wherever we could, and we always used to have a bucket full of brussel sprouts.

 “My mum and dad took Lorraine in at the age of 15 when we first met, and she lived with us.

"We have been together ever since, my mum took her under her wing.”

Jeff and Lorraine pair married in 1977 and had their wedding reception in Edith and George's back garden, with a canopy and food spread which his parents helped set up.

Roger and his wife Viv, also had their wedding reception at the family home and have been married 50 years.

Jeffery said that Edith had "gone through the wars" as she had broken her wrist at age 72 after trying to do a handstand up the wall with one of the great-grandchildren.

She also suffered with blood poisoning, had a hip replacement, and is now bed-bound unless lifted with a hoist into a chair.

We wish Edith a very happy 100th birthday!

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