MODERN GRANDMOTHERS

Western Star, 21 June 1935, Page 3

MODERN GRANDMOTHERS

ADVENTURES FOR OLD WIVES FIFTY-THIRD OCEAN VOYAGE. Three adventurous women were re-cently-singled out for special mention -by - London journals. They are Mrs Ann Stansall, ■ Mrs Murray Dodd and Mrs Dick Burge. Going to the cinema, at the age of .105, crossing th© Atlantic for tb© fifty-third time at 77, and promoting boxing are their ' respective _ achievements. j

Mrs • celebrated her 105th birthday not long ago. Mansfield, her horn© town, did not let th© occasion go by unmarked. The Mayor, Councillor E. Mellors, invited her to go to a cinema. Mrs Stanstall accepted. She went with the Mayoress, and had to climb two flights of stairs to get to her seat. When she was asked if sh© would like to rest and .“get her breath,” ' she smiled, and replied, “I like the exercise.” “This is the first time .1 have been to the pictures since I was a hundred,’ ’ she told an interviewer. “I don’t often go, but I like them. I can see and hear quite well, so I can enjoy them. “I had lots of letters and telegrams, one from the Duke of Portland,” she said. .“The Mayoress sent me a basket of fruit arid. flowers, and I have alsohad four pounds of tea . and a lovely iced cake.” Mrs Stansall, who is a teetotaller and a vegetarian, says good hours and three plain meals a day keep her well. Sh© has lived in the' same house at St. John’s Place for nearly 70 years. •

Adventurous Woman No. 2 is Mrs Dodd, widow of a Canadian judge. When interviewed at her Bayswater hotel, soon after her arrival in the Cungrd-White Star liner Ascania—her fifty-third trip—sh e was immensely pleased to be in London again. “I am a confirmed traveller,” sh© said. “Nothing is better fun than making these voyages between Canada, where I was born, and England. But what a contrast to the old days these wonderful liners of to-day are. When I made my first sailing we had only one candle in our cabins.” When it was suggested that, shortly she might be able to fly across the Atlantic, six© declared, ‘‘Ships and trains are good enough foil me.”

Adventurous Woman No. 3is Mrsi Burge, “Queen of Boxiug,”’ widow of the map who 25 years ago converted an old chapel into what is now known alii over the world at The Ring, Blackfriars. She spoke to a gathering of friends in London to celebrate the silver jubilee of The Ring.. It was Mrs Burge who introduced Sunday boxing into England. She claims to have been responsible for breaking down the objections to women as spectators at the ringside.

LONDON FIRE DRAMA.

AGED WOMAN FATALLY BURNED. Five small children were rescued and an aged woman was burned to death in a blaze at a house in Clerkemvell, London, recently. The. victim was Mrs Many Ann Ryan, aged 81,- known locally as “Grannie Banks/’ The fire broke out in a back room on :the ground floor which she occupied. *

The flames spread rapidly to th© staircase, and two families who were,, trapped on the first and second floorsi were saved after great heroism by neighbours and firemen. A 52_year-old .widow, Mrs Ada Paxton, mad© a great effort to save Mrs Ryan. “I ran to the old lady’s room when I saw the smoke,” she related. ‘.‘Opening the door I was met by a mass of flames. It was impossible to get in and; I could not see Mrs Ryan. A number of other neighbours helped me to carry buckets of water. We threw them on the flames until the firemen arrived.”

When the fire brigade arrived the staircase was ablaze, and a Mrs Blake and her two children were trapped in rooms abov© the ground-floor. A young man named John Sefton had been, leading the rescue work.

• “Mrs Blake suddenly appeared at ai window, but could not climb 'but,” a neighbour stated. “Sh e mad© a rope out of a sheet and threw this down. Mr Sefton swarmed up this and carried her down at great personal risk. “The two children wer© brought down from the first floor and then Mr Sefton learned' that the three children of Mr and Mrs Bassett were sleeping at.the top of the house. Their parents had gone for a walk.

He forced his way up the burning staircase, but could not reach the top. H© made repeated efforts aud was then, brought down by firemeii. Eventually a fireman with a hook ladder reached the children’s room from the back of the house, and brought them down ” The thr©© Bassett aged six; Edward, aged four; and Ronald—were taken to hospital suffering from buirns and shock.