NEWS FOR WOMEN 95th BIRTHDAY OF OLD LYTTELTON RESIDENT

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27726, 2 August 1955, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN 95th BIRTHDAY OF OLD LYTTELTON RESIDENT

A resident of Lyttelton for 90 years, Mrs Maria Mutton celebrated her ninety-fifth birthday at the home of her granddaughter in Spreydon yesterday. Friends and members of her family—she has 11 great-grandchildren —visited her during the day, and last evening. As she sat by the fireside of her granddaughter, Mrs R. W. E. Cross, she was still eager to speak of her long life at Lyttelton. Many of the birthday presents she was given were balls of crochet cotton. “I learned to crochet when I was nine, and sometimes I use a ball of cotton a day,” she said. Such family presents are a good investment, for much of Mrs Mutton’s enormous output of crocheted cloths and mats. are distributed among her family on birthdays. Examples of her work, a set of table mats and the collar of her frock, showed how finely and evenly her fingers can manipulate a crochet hook. She does not wear spectacles, but as her son pointed out, she can crochet with her eyes shut.

Mrs Mutton limits her reading to newspapers. She said yesterday that she felt, there was nothing to show for reading, and preferred her needlework. Another interest of Mrs Mutton was the collection for many years of miniature teapots. She began this in 1907 after the Christchurch exhibition, at which she obtained a tiny teapot. Since then she has assembled 110 teapots.

Mrs Mutton was born in Lyttelton. Her parents came from England, and her mother arrived in the sixth ship for immigrants. She was married in 1877 in Holy Trinity Church, Lyttelton. Her husband, who died 21 years ago, was a carpenter. She had two sons, one of whom, Mr D. Mutton, was also a carpenter at Lyttelton. Two of her great-grandchildren are carpenters. Before her marriage, as Miss Hinet, 'he intended to become a music teacher. She studied the piano for ibout seven years. Like her eyesight, and hearing, Mrs

Mutton’s memory is good. Yesterday she recalled Lyttelton as it was almost a century ago, when there was only one main wharf, when the shoreline was of rocks and mudflats, and when there was a beach where the railway station now stands. She spoke of the building of the railway tunnel, of how she and her mother walked almost through it when it was completed in 1867, and of the disastrous fire that destroyed half of the town in 1870. Mrs Mutton enjoys good health, and has had no serious illness in recent years. Her doctor visits her regularly, and he assures her that she will celebrate her one hundredth birthday. She said she did not take him seriously, however. “You just have to wait your time,” she said.