Anne celebrates 101 years of life

Anne Brokensha of Ron Smith Care Centre (RSCC) celebrated her 101st birthday surrounded by family, friends and RSCC carers on January 28.

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Anne’s life spanned several countries and three continents.

Her life story tells of a challenging childhood that equipped her with numerous skills, wartime intrigue and, above all, a strong, nurturing personality that has been her family’s guiding light.

Born in India in 1921 to British parents, who were based there during World War I, Anne and her family soon returned to England.

The post-war depression prompted the family to move to South Africa, where Anne’s parents bought a farm in Maclear in the Eastern Cape.

When Anne was seven years old, she started school as a weekly boarder.

Every Monday, Anne and her father would ride over the hills on their horses, Ginger and Charles, and her father would fetch her again on Fridays.

Her happy early life came to an abrupt end at the age of nine, when her mother died, trying to save their Angora rabbits from a burning hutch.

Anne’s father then took a job teaching maths in Malvern, outside Durban.

After Anne’s father remarried, the family moved to Egypt.

As there was no school in the village, Anne was homeschooled in maths and general knowledge by her father.

Her step mum, Aileen, then became ill and died when Anne was 11 years old.

Anne completed her high school career in Yorkshire, England.

She rode the 9km to school and back on her bicycle, in all kinds of weather.

Anne wrote the equivalent of her matric at the age of 15.

After completing secretarial and French courses at a business college, Anne stayed with a French family in Paris, where she learned commercial French and shorthand, before returning to Egypt to her father and his new wife.

After returning to Egypt, Anne attended a German school and became as fluent in German as she was in French.

During World War II, Anne just, 17 years old, left her first job as a private secretary to work for the Land Army in support of the war effort.

She milked cows and tossed hay onto a lorry and later took on the milk deliveries.

Anne quickly taught herself how to drive, loaded the milk crates onto the truck and delivered them in the foggy blackout by herself.

She then put her name down to serve in the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

Because of her knowledge of German and French, she was sent for training and posted to Withernsea and from there to Ceylon to keep naval watch.

Little did she know the signals from enemy ships and U-boats she picked up on two monitors simultaneously were sent for decoding to Bletchley Park, which was the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the war.

Anne later received a medal for the part she played at Bletchley Park.

As was required of her, Anne had signed the Secrecy Act, which was only dissolved in 1975, and subsequently kept her role in the war secret from her husband for close to 50 years.

At age 97, Anne wrote a book, Memories of 97 Years, so that her family could know what her life had entailed.

Anne has lived at RSCC since 2015.

Last year, on her 100th birthday, Anne’s daughters collected messages and photographic contributions from friends and family, ending up with 86 pages of wonderful memories for Anne to browse through for months to come.

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