Good to meet you… Edith Pierce
Iwas born in 1916 in Yorkshire, the eldest of five children. Until I was married I never lived in the same house for more than three years. We moved around a lot, depending where my dad was working. I went to boarding school and was very happy there. I met Martin, my husband, at a church-based camp doing agricultural work. It was love at first sight. But he was about to go on a retreat to see if he wanted to become a monk, so we broke things off. It nearly broke my heart. But at the end of the retreat he realised it was not his vocation and we were married.
I was a teacher before and during the war. I also drove an ambulance – it was a funny vehicle. Martin was a parish priest, so when we married my main work was as a clergy wife and mother. I don’t know how people manage these days working full time and bringing up children - it can’t be easy. We had four children, two girls and two boys. I now have 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Our marriage was very happy, but Martin died in 1973 just after we moved to the north-east. The local church is essential to my life. I was a bellringer until two years ago, when I could no longer manage the stairs to the ringing chamber. I also enjoy needlework.
I started reading the Guardian when the News Chronicle went bust, as that was the paper we had before. I like the fact that it is balanced and fair. I enjoy the Country diary, especially Phil Gates, and anything about nature. I try to keep up with the news, though you feel you can’t do anything but pray. Until very recently I always did the cryptic crossword. My sons-in-law both do it too and I used to enjoy talking to them about it. But now I have switched to the sudoku. There’s nothing I dislike about the paper, I just skip anything not to my taste. One of the things that appeals to me about it is the sense of social justice. If you didn’t find that in the paper you were reading you would give it up.
I will be 100 on Easter Monday. Life and people are what have kept me looking forward. I couldn’t manage to live as I do without the village bus and the people it keeps me in touch with. You can’t live well without meeting people from different backgrounds, and it’s the people I meet who keep me alive.
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