Once of Cornwall's oldest ladies, fisherman's widow Mrs Mary Hichens will be 103 in February - and she still enjoys playing her accordion.
This year also marks her 70th anniversary living at the same house at Chywoone Avenue, Newlyn where she came with her husband and family when their former home was condemned in the controversial clearance scheme of 1937.
A brand new council housing estate was being completed on the steep green fields of Newlyn Hill. The white-walled Gwavas Estate, a major building enterprise by the Borough Council, with well over 150 homes, took people from old cottages in the village. This Hichens family lived in Vaccination Court on the harbour-front, behind the present DEFRA office in Fore Street. Father, Sidney Hichens worked on the fishing long-liner 'Goodwill' and the couple had four sons, Philip; Joe, Sidney and Stephen and a daughter, Rebecca. All have died except Sidney, 76, who cares for his mother who has been bedridden for some weeks because of a fall. She was a tenant of Penzance Borough Council, then Penwith District Council and, for the past 11 years of the Penwith Housing Association, the oldest and longest serving tenant on the estate.
"We have been very happy here" she remarked as she sat up in bed and told her story. "My mother, Margaret Humphries, was from Newlyn and married a seaman, Joseph Webber and went to live in Minehead, Somerset. I was the only child of father's second marriage and was born on 22 February 1904. He was Captain of the ketch 'Johnny O'Toole' that was sunk by the Germans in the First World War, a few months after he had left the ship".
An oil painting of the lively cargo-carrying ketch hangs on the living-room wall. She travelled from the age of four, during school holidays almost a century ago, hundreds of miles with her parents on voyages on the ketch to Ireland and ports along the coast.
Father died in Somerset when he was 46 so mother and 14 year old Mary came back to Cornwall.
After her marriage and family life in Vaccination Court, she was 33 when she came to Gwavas in July 1937. This was shortly before the Newlyn long-liner 'Rosebud' made her celebrated voyage to Westminster with a petition of protest against the Council's clearance scheme. As well as children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, Mrs Hichens now has four great great grandchildren. She is very musical. "I played the accordion from when I was four years old as well as the concertina and mouth organ. I enjoyed playing my accordion in the Newlyn Carnival - and can still play it".
To prove her ability she played 'The Loveliest Night of the Year' the Waltz theme from the 'Merry Widow' operetta and an Irish air. "I still enjoy the music. They used to say "Come on Mary, give us a tune. I went to the old Methodist chapel in Boase Street and to the new Centenary chapel when it opened in 1928".
Her husband died 50 years ago this year, aged 62. Mrs Hichens has suffered two broken hips, one when she was 79 and another ten years later. A quiet, delightful character, she recalls making the 'camouflage nets' along with many other Newlyn women during the 1939-45 war years, and retains a bright memory of friends and events.
Among her recent visitors (pictured) were near-neighbours Kenneth (86) and Jane Carbis, together with Jenny Beamish, Chair of the Gwavas Residents Association and Vice-Chair of the PHA Tenants Committee. Mrs Carbis, who will be 90 in October, is also one of the longest tenants at Chywoone Avenue. She brought Mrs Hichens a birthday present. "I came to live here in October 1938 when I was 21 - I was born on Trafalgar Day - with my parents Ness and Lizzie Richards and my two brothers, John Wesley and Nicholas and sister Margaret. Fisherman father was a member of the crew of the lifeboat 'Elizabeth and Blanche' which was stationed at Newlyn for some years".
Mr & Mrs Carbis have had three homes on the estate, being married and having two daughters (Anne and Michelle) at the first, their son Colin at the second and at present live in the third where they celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. The couple met when they both worked for Munro at Penzance. "We were wed in 1944 - 62 years ago last December - and we waited for a house of our own here".
As well as three children they have eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren. "It is lovely here" she said of her home "and it has been in the family for a long time: our relatives Harry and Lizzie Annie Bounden lived here before us, and we have friends all around".
