“Keep yourself busy!” advises former WW2 nurse and resident to mark International Women’s Day

Above: Resident Glenys House, aged 98, carries out some light exercises at Albert Edward Prince of Wales Court, in Porthcawl.

To mark International Women’s Day, Glenys House, a 98-year-old resident at Albert Edward Prince of Wales Court, in Porthcawl, gives this piece of advice to younger generations:

Keep yourself busy! This is also my secret to a long life.

Glenys was born as Glenys Violet Hemmings in Abercan, South Wales, on 13th July 1925, only seven years after the end of the First World War. She became a Brownie when she was just a child and, when the Second World War broke out, she joined the RAF as a nurse.

Glenys had the rank of Leading Aircraft Woman (LAC) and tended soldiers that have been prisoners of war in Japan. Commenting on this experience with the troops, she says:

It wasn’t very nice what they had done to our boys!

Then, she met her husband, Fred, who was also in the military. They got married in 1946 and celebrated their golden wedding anniversary 50 years later, in 1996. They had four children, although, sadly, two passed away. Glenys has grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who travel from Birmingham to visit her, she says:

There are too many to keep count of now.

Resident Glenys enjoys a cup of tea whilst cheerfully chatting with Nicola Osborne, one of the Home’s Activities Coordinators.

Glenys will turn 100 in July next year, but she remains active. She remaks:

I’ve always kept myself busy and I do enjoy walking!

Nicola Osborne, one of the Home’s Activities Coordinators, says:

Glenys is a lovely lady. She spends many hours still walking throughout the Home, chatting to people on the way! She enjoys attending activities and sitting having a cuppa and a biscuit.

[Summary: Glenys House, a 98-year-old resident at Albert Edward Prince of Wales Court, in Porthcawl, gives a piece of advice to mark International Women’s Day: “Keep yourself busy!” That is also her secret to a long life. During the Second World War, she joined the RAF as a nurse. Glenys tended soldiers that have been prisoners of war in Japan.]