More than 100 years of ‘lovely change’, says 105-year-old Beryl

Beryl Le Gros, who lives at the Maison La Corderie care home, said that Jersey was still as special as the day she was born, and that those who say the Island has changed for the worse ‘are mistaken’.

And she added that while living a healthy life, she does enjoy the occasional glass of Bailey’s at the residential home in St Helier.

Mrs Le Gros, a mother of three, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of nine whose husband Cyril died in 1985, said: ‘Everyone always asks me what the secret is to a long life.

Beryl with her son John Le Gros

‘The truth is, I don’t know. I have lived a very ordinary life. I hardly ever drank alcohol, and I tried smoking with my friends but I absolutely hated it. I never smoked again after that.’

She trained as a teacher after leaving school before changing career to work as an office assistant at an accountancy firm.

Beryl Le Gros is 105 years old

She described the development of Jersey as wonderful and said that she liked to see more people living in the Island.

‘I went to Trinity school and then trained as a teacher at the Jersey Pupil Teacher Centre,’ she said. ‘But in the end, I didn’t do much teaching. I didn’t really like it and I ended up working in an office.

‘I think Jersey is still a very lovely place. There are some people who say that they would not come to the Island as there is nothing worth coming here for. They are very mistaken. There are many different bays and parts of the Island which are beautiful.’

Mrs Le Gros remained in the Island during the Occupation and said that they were not deprived and were very lucky.

She added: ‘My father, John-Joshua de la Haye, owned a garage at Pontac, the Eastern Motorworks. If the farmers who worked in the east of the Island wanted something fixed, they would come to my father, and instead of paying him in cash, they would pay him in food.

‘We didn’t have any goodies like chocolate and sweets, but we never went hungry. We were very lucky. But we still very much looked forward to the Red Cross parcels that arrived on the SS Vega.’

Mrs Le Gros celebrated her birthday with a party attended by friends and family, some of whom came from the UK especially for the occasion.

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