Clara woman celebrates 100th birthday in style

Clara woman Annie Greham is celebrating her 100th birthday in style this week with two parties! A native of Ballinahown, who spent most of her life living in The Green, Clara, Annie now resides at St Vincent's Care Centre in Athlone, where yesterday she celebrated with her family, friends and staff at the centre with a Mass and a party afterwards. Tomorrow she will celebrate in Clara with Mass at 2pm followed by a party in Baggot's. Speaking to the Offaly Independent ahead of her birthday celebrations this week, Annie attributed her longevity to hard work and a healthy lifestyle. "I had a great healthy lifestyle and plenty of hard work, bringing in the hay and turf, you had to do that," she said. "Hard work killed nobody," said Annie. "We had to walk everywhere, that's why we were so healthy." And her opinion on why that healthy lifestyle hasn't continued to today? "Everyone uses cars now to go anywhere. If they could get their car up the stairs they would," said the straight-talking centenarian. From a rural background, Annie still maintains an interest in farm activities and the animals, something that was evident when she quizzed Mary Coughlan of St Vincent's Care Centre about her lambs last Wednesday afternoon when Mary popped in for a visit. After working on her home farm in Ballinahown until the age of 15, Annie then went to work for Dr Doyle in Ferbane, before working for a while in Fallon's in Ballymahon and later in Tullamore, cycling from Clara to Tullamore daily for work. Annie later took work in Goodbody's Factory in Clara and has fond memories of her time there and the factory excursions. In her early 30s, while living in Clara, she married John Greham and they had six children: Paddy, Marie, Johnny, Kathleen, Phil and Nuala. Her children, too, have fond memories of being brought on visits to seaside towns in their younger days, but joked that it wasn't only them she brought, Annie usually had about 20 local children with her on these excursions to Bray and Galway. "I used to bring the kids with me everywhere, I wouldn't leave them with anybody," she said. She recalled many train journeys to Galway and Bray and having picnics at the seaside, saying she never has any bother with any of the children she brought with her, saying they were happy to build sandcastles for the day. "I brought the whole lot of them. I never had a bit of bother, they'd sit there all day with their buckets in the sand," she said. As she reminisced on times past, Annie said it was a simpler life then when neighbours looked out for each other and you had the freedom to go anywhere. And while she had many fond memories of Galway, she admitted that she would be afraid to go there now. Speaking about her earlier years, she said: "It (life) was far better altogether than now, you could go out anywhere." A staunch Brian Cowen supporter, Annie was among the large crowd gathered that welcomed him to his native Clara after he became Taoiseach. "The harm was done before Brian Cowen got the job. Nobody can blame Brian Cowen for what's going on," she said. Annie will be at home in Clara tomorrow celebrating her big birthday surrounded by family and friends.