108-year-old Helen reveals secret to long life is avoiding vices

Published on Thursday 10 December 2009 08:38

AT 108 years young she is one of oldest residents in Scotland – and amazingly still lives independently in her Edinburgh home.

When it comes to the secret of her long life, Helen Marshall sums it up simply.

"I don't swear, I don't drink, and I don't go with the men," she declares. "What more can I say?"

Mrs Marshall celebrated her latest milestone last month in her home in Newington.

On the day, she was joined by Lady Provost Elizabeth Grubb, and members of her family, including her nephew, Edwin Owen, and his wife, who had travelled up from London.

As well as steering clear of vices, Mrs Marshall told the Evening News that the key to staying fit and healthy was regularity of mealtimes. She said: "I don't nibble on snacks throughout the day. I eat proper meals."

Irene Greig, her home help, makes her breakfast and then comes again at noon for an hour to help with her lunch. For tea, Mrs Marshall boils herself an egg, and makes toast with toasting tongs in front of her gas fire.

The rest of the time Mrs Marshall says she enjoys pottering around the house. She listens to audiobooks, and is particularly fond of romances and mysteries.

Born in London in 1901 to Scottish parents, Helen was the third of four children. Her parents were originally from the Borders, and her earliest memory is of summer holidays spent there. The family moved back to Scotland when she was young, when her father was offered a job in Broughty Ferry.

During the First World War the family moved to Granton. Mrs Marshall would often walk to Broughton Place Church, where she played tennis. She was also a member of Swanston ladies golf club.

She started a two-year course at Atholl Crescent, a catering and domestic college, but her studies were cut short with the outbreak of the Second World War.

Mrs Marshall moved to London to work as a housekeeper at the RAF club in Piccadilly. She then moved to Cumbria, and was employed as a housekeeper for a school for evacuees. It was here that she caught paratyphoid, and was described as being at "death's door" but recovered.

In 1947 she married William Marshall. The couple did not have any children, and moved back to Edinburgh when Mr Marshall retired in 1965. He died in 1972, and Mrs Marshall has remained in their home for more than 40 years.

Mrs Marshall is modest about her age, but says she cannot imagine leaving her house, whatever age she may be.

She said: "Why shouldn't I still live in my own home?"

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

WHEN Mrs Marshall was born in 1901, it was a very different world to the one we're living in today.

&#149 Life expectancy was 49 for women and 45 for men. Today it is 76 for men, and 81 for women.

&#149 Queen Victoria, who had ruled over almost a quarter of the world's population, died in January, and her passing was the end of an era.

&#149 Edinburgh Corporation double-decker trams served the Capital, with popular routes along Princes Street and to Haymarket. In the colours of Lothian Buses that remain today, the original trams were painted maroon and white.

&#149 The Boer War was continuing in South Africa, where the Royal Scots regiment was fighting. It would end the next year, in 1902.