18 June 2023 , 15:57
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A 103-year-old woman says she likes nothing more than dancing and TikTok videos to keep her active.
Mum-of-two Joan Thompson is a resident at the Cloverleaf Care Home in Lincoln. Born in 1919 she was one of 13 children and recalls an idyllic childhood climbing trees and doing the splits.
She remembers childhood Christmases as very different to now, with her and her siblings being given a single stocking with a tangerine, an apple, some sweets and a game of snakes and ladders to share.
She said: “We were happy in a way but my mum and dad were very strict.
“But that was life and you didn’t expect any more.”
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On leaving school at 14, she moved away to a new home where she began caring for some younger children with learning difficulties.
When World War Two broke out she and her husband Ron, who was in the Army, witnessed an air raid at close quarters, narrowly avoiding being hit.
Joan, who turns 104 later this month, hid under a tree and clung to it so hard that her fingernails were embedded in the bark. She said: “I remember my husband wanted a glass of beer.
“He walked to this pub and there was an air aid and then bombs were dropping and there was a great big crater and there were holes in the ground.”
While Ron went away to war Joan ran a guesthouse in Devon, where she enjoyed cleaning floors, washing pots, cooking the meals and tending to the garden. She remembers: “It was a big place, it was three stories.”
After that, Joan joined the WRAF before training to be a telecommunicator, decoding secret messages. But of all the jobs she’s done, Joan said bringing up her two children, Jacqueline and Christine was by far and away her favourite.
Joan still loves children and enjoys meeting other parents with them.
She and Ron survived World War Two and she puts her long life down to not drinking or smoking and keeping active.
As Joan puts it: “I love doing things – I don’t like being idle.”
She loves a game of bingo and even jumped at the chance to make a TikTok video, dancing with the care staff.
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Hayley Mitchell, of Cloverleaf Care Home, said: “Joan is an inspiration.
“When I hear about her life and having to be around in the war. I think she’s an absolutely lovely resident.
“Joan always takes part in activities, it doesn’t matter what it is. She’s a joy.”