Bend it like Hilda
Reporter: Jennifer Hollamby
Date published: 10 August 2009
SHE might be 101 today, but Hilda Wright wouldn’t miss her regular exercise classes for the world.
Born in the year the Model T Ford was introduced, this sprightly 101-year-old can still touch her toes and only gave up dancing last year. But then, you wouldn’t expect anything less from someone who walked four miles a day until she was 95.
When Hilda, of St Clement’s Court, Falcon Street, is not taking part in the regular exercise sessions at the Highbarn Day Centre in Royton, she enjoys games of dominoes and listening to all types of music, including jazz and Country and Western.
Hilda’s daughter, Freda Eason, of Alpine Grove in Royton, said: “Mum has a wonderful attitude to life. She gets involved with everything that’s going on at the Highbarn centre and loves going there all the time.”
Hilda grew up in Pembroke Street, off Union Street West in Oldham. She went to St Thomas’ School in Werneth Hall Road and left at 13 to work in the cotton mill. She married Ellis Wright in her 30s, but he died 16 years ago.
When she is not busy working out, Hilda loves to spend time with Freda and her husband Peter, as well as her two grandchildren.
Freda said: “Mum always dresses well and puts her rollers in every day. She has always believed that every day is a new start and you shouldn’t carry your worries over to the next day.”
