A 105-year-old woman from England lives in the house she was born in and says she has no plans to move.
Elsie Allcock was born in the two-bedroom terraced house in Barker Street, Huthwaite, Nottinghamshire, in 1918 at the end of World War I.
They didn’t have any electricity at that time and only one gas light in the front room.
While living in the house, Ms. Allcock has witnessed some important moments in history such as World War I, World War II, and three coronations.
She currently lives there with her son Raymond Allcock, 76.
Dad-of-four Mr. Raymond Allcock, who is divorced, moved in with his mother 30 years ago when his father became ill and passed away at the age of 78.
“I moved in to look after her but she looks after me,” Mr. Raymond Allcock said. “She’s very independent. She says ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about.’”
Until last year, Ms. Allcock, who has two children, six grandchildren, and more than 30 great-grandchildren, was knitting all the time. However, recently, she’s had to stop since she’s gotten arthritis in her hands.
According to Ms. Allcock, the secret to her longevity has been to not sit idle. Her son said she has bad feet, a bad shoulder, and bad ears but apart from that she’s perfect.
She was a champion at dominoes and has many awards in the house. She admits that she also enjoys word searching.
The mother-son pair do 25 jigsaws a year and enjoy tending to pot plants in the garden. Mr. Raymond Allcock who retired from working as a bricklayer, starts his day at 5 a.m. by giving his elderly mother a cup of tea before heading out fishing.
Ms. Allcock, who was the youngest of five children in her family, was only 14 when her mother passed away from pneumonia. She thus didn’t get a job as she had to care for her father, who was in his 70s, at home. However, she cleaned her neighbors’ houses for pocket money.
She can recall a time when the main street had 30 shops and 11 pubs, but it now has just two shops and two pubs.
“We used to have a billiard hall and a miners’ welfare but they pulled it down and built houses on them,” Ms. Allcock said. “They knocked everything down and built houses on it.”
On June 28th, Ms. Allcock’s family celebrated her 105th birthday with a party and 50 guests.
“Our family treats her like a queen,” Mr. Raymond Allcock said.
He said that if his mom had a message for young people it would be, “Don’t sit on your backside and go to work.”
Her story has gone viral on social media and this has left her surprised since she doesn’t believe she’s done anything particularly important.
