‘EVERYTHING in moderation’ is the secret to a long life, according to this 105-year-old woman.
“You can have a drink, water or whatever you want, you can eat what you want, but in moderation,” said Ada Bailey, of New Winterwell Road, West Melton, who celebrated her landmark birthday on Monday.
Ada said: “The other thing is to keep smiling, and if you see someone without a smile, give them one.
“I have had a very full life and I still do all my own jobs, I do my own washing and make my own meals.”
Ada was born the fifth of 13 siblings in Rotherham on July 30, 1913 to Rose Alice and William Francis Bailey.
She lived with her husband Reuben on a farm on the moors above Halifax, where they kept chickens.
Reuben went to Egypt for four years during the Second World War, while Ada stayed at the farm and took in lodgers who worked down the local pit.
Ada, whose mother had taught her to sew and crochet when she was 14, knitted socks for the men to wear.
She still remembers the first thing she knitted a pair of socks for her father and she has carried on knitting since.
Ada said she ‘couldn’t get in her flat’ due to the cards and flowers sent this week.
She had a party last Saturday with 15 of her family members, and on her birthday went to a beauty parlour before having lunch with her grandson and his wife.
Ada and Reuben had a son, also called Reuben, who died last year, and she has a daughter-in-law, two grandsons, a granddaughter, seven great grandchildren, and five great great grandchildren.
She has had a telegram from the Queen every year since her 100th birthday, and Ada noted this was the first one she had received where Her Majesty was smiling in the picture.
