Saturday 12th September 2009 will certainly stand out in the history of the Poor Clare Community in York as a memorable day because on that day Sr Margaret celebrated her 100th birthday. In the 144 year history of the Poor Clare’s in York, Sr Margaret is the first sister ever to attain such length of years. The day dawned bright and clear and we were blessed with a beautiful warm sunny day.
For several days before the great day, the postman had been delivering cards of all kinds. Then on the actual day, the front door bell never stopped ringing with more deliveries of flowers – all shapes and sizes through Interflora. They were sent from literally all over the world; Sri Lanka, Australia, Ireland, and several places in the UK.
At about 11 am, the visitors started to arrive; family and friends from Blyth (Sr Margaret’s home town) and other parts of Northumbria, Yorkshire, London and Coventry. Many friends and benefactors of the Community were also invited to the Mass of Thanksgiving at midday. Canon Patrick Harney and Fr Adrian Convery OSB, both longstanding friends of the Community, concelebrated the Mass. The Simison family were a great help with Philip singing the Responsorial Psalm and he and Michael (his elder son) played a haunting slow air during communion on the recorder and violin. The younger son Peter served on the altar. During his homily, Canon Harney left the sanctuary and stood very close to Sr Margaret so that she could hear as he went through all the stages of her long life, much to her embarrassment. At the end, there was lengthy applause.
After Mass, the visitors were treated to a buffet lunch and as it was such a lovely day, many were able to enjoy sitting in the Extern garden. Sr Margaret shed many tears of joy throughout the day and was overcome by all the celebrations. She had never expected so many people to come for her celebration. Everyone commented on how well she looked – in fact, it is very hard to believe that she is now a century old!!
The highlight of the day for Sr Margaret (apart from the Mass and visitors) was receiving a birthday card from Her Majesty the Queen which now holds pride of place among all the many cards she has received. We should note here that her sister Bella (RIP) also reached her 100th birthday and received a card from the Queen a few years ago. This surely must be something of a record – two siblings each achieving their 100th birthday. Something else which Sr Margaret received, which she cherishes, is a greeting letter from Bishop Terry with a promise of a visit a little later on.
All the celebrations were captured by Lucy (Sr Margaret’s grand nephew’s wife) on her camcorder so we look forward to viewing that once she has edited it. Sr Paul also managed to get some lovely shots throughout the day. She had decorated Bethany, where the buffet was held, with family photos. Joan (Sr Margaret’s niece-in-law) had done a sterling job of e-mailing lots of family photos and we managed to enlarge them, print them off and hang them on the walls in Bethany. There were photos of all her brothers and sisters, her mother and even her maternal grandmother!! We must not fail to mention the great joy Sr Margaret had in meeting for the first time her great, great, great niece, Holli, aged 5 – what a delightful little girl. At the end of the day, despite all the excitement, Sr Margaret looked remarkably youthful while some of the rest of us looked far from it!
On Sunday 13th September, we had our own Community celebration and Sr Margaret received her gifts from the Community. The excitement was great as she opened each parcel, ably helped by her great pal Nobby (our dog). We had some helium balloons on the back of Sr Margaret’s chair with 100 on them and thus a perfect setting for some more photos.
At the end of a perfect day, we are all so grateful to God that Sr Margaret has lived such a long life and for keeping her so alert. Despite her now having to use a Zimmer frame to walk about she is still VERY MUCH on the ball and a truly remarkable woman. We continue to celebrate in Community until the octave.
Sr Margaret will forever be deeply grateful to each and every one of you who have added so much to her celebrations by your many kindnesses and we think she will continue to celebrate until her 200th birthday!