Germany-born Wanda Sas celebrates her 100th birthday at Bowbridge Court Care Home, Newark
A loving family woman has said that she is “relieved” to celebrate her 100th birthday.
On Tuesday (December 3), Wanda Sas became a centenarian and celebrated among family and new friends at Bowbridge Court Care Home in Newark, where she is enjoying two weeks of respite.
Born in Germany on December 3, 1924, she was just a young woman when the horrors of the Second World War spread across Europe.
She said it was a scary time to be alive, but in the darkness she found love and married with Ignats, a Polish soldier who had been conscripted into the army when his homeland was invaded.
When peace finally returned at the end of the war, they feared what life might be like if they returned to Poland, which was now under the control of the Soviet Union.
Ultimately, they chose to move to England in 1947, braving rough seas as they sailed from the Hook of Holland to Southampton.
The couple settled in Basford, Nottingham, where they lived the good life for many happy years, growing their own vegetables in the garden and raising a family.
Together they had two children, Maria and Edward, whom Wanda stayed at home to raise — and it is in this Basford home that Wands still lives independently to this day, with occasional visits from care workers.
On reaching the age of 100, with a twinkle in her eye, Wanda smiled and said: “I feel very relieved. If you want to live you have to work hard and exercise.”
Wanda’s daughter Maria Pilkington, described her mother as being a very positive person, adding: “She’s not a sitter. She’s always up and about, doing things for herself.”
As she was spending her birthday at Bowbridge Court, the care home staff arranged an afternoon of entertainment provided by Argent Theatre, who themselves will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in the new year.
Wanda, and other residents, were treated to poems, stories, jokes, a Northern slang rendition of the Nativity, and even a visit from Santa.
Offering a few words of advice to the younger generation, based on her years of experience, Wanda said: “Sometimes there will be sad times, but there will be happy times as well.
“The war could be quite frightening but we got through it — you just have to do your best.”
She also said she loved to eat and spoke at great length about the benefits of drinking water.
As a loving family woman, Wanda said family was the most important thing to her, raising her own two children, before welcoming six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
