Eileen celebrates her 102nd birthday
Peninsula Village resident Ms Eileen Banks recently celebrated her 102nd birthday.
Eileen was born in the East End of London and spent her childhood at New Cross attending Brockley Central School.
She then attended Lewisham College where she studied shorthand, typing, bookkeeping, geography, French and English, which enabled her to become a secretary.
"I enjoyed work and retained many of the skills I learnt during my career," Ms Banks said.
"My father, Robert, died when I was four years old but I still had a happy childhood," she said.
"I used to enjoy playing in the snow and was a bit of a prankster who liked to participate in the school plays, often with the leading role."
Eileen was also a keen swimmer and won many medals.
"My youngest daughter moved to Australia and had her first child.
"She wanted her mum close so I moved to Australia in 1974 to be closer to them.
"I settled in Cremorne and worked as a secretary in Sussex St, Sydney.
"I moved around for a few years and then settled here on the Coast eight years ago and have been a resident at Peninsula Village for the last six years."
Ms Banks said her lifetime achievement had been learning to use a computer when she was 82 years old.
"My typing skills helped me immensely.
"I enjoy playing games, sending emails to family and friends and surfing the net.
"I also like to read biographies, poetry and writing poetry.
"In my younger days I used to enjoy cooking, sewing, knitting and making jams and chutney.
"I like to keep my mind active with my computer and will often google things of interest to increase my knowledge.
"It took me a long time to settle into life at Peninsula Village, but I'm quite happy now.
"I enjoy visits to the wellness centre and most days I do my own thing, which is to play games on my computer or iPad, emailing and Face Timing my daughters Sonja and Gillian in England.
"The staff at Peninsula Village are wonderful and very caring," she said.
Submission, 26 Feb 2016
Eileen Banks, Woy Woy