VEREENIGING. – At the age of 90, Scottish-born Janet Mullen, a retired hospital theatre assistant and member of the Rotary Anns, does not regret moving to South Africa, along with her husband Fergusson “Fergie” Mullen (74), a boilermaker by profession, all those years ago.

Mullen, who throughout the years has lived in four different British commonwealth countries – and even considered a fifth – moved to South Africa in the 1950’s when her Fergie got a job as a boilermaker in the Vaal Triangle.

Fergie passed away from cancer back in 2006, but Janet is still going strong, and has been an active member of the Rotary Anns for a few years now.

The Rotary Anns are like family to Janet, and on Monday, 27 March, the ladies held a birthday lunch for Janet at the home of Zurika Nienaber at Kariba Ranch.

Janet and the guests were treated to a lovely salad, lasagne and bobotie.

For the vegetarians there was a dish of lentils and spinach. Later, cake was also served.

Speaking to North Ster on her birthday, Janet said: “I found my home here in South Africa. We love it here. Everybody seems to be friendly.”

Janet was born in Hawick, Scotland, a town on the border of Scotland and England, on  27 March 1933.

She was the eldest of four children.

The second World War broke out when Janet was about 6 and ended when she was 12 years old.

She recalls: “We were children of the Second World War (1939 – 1945), so we were used to sharing and everyone were brothers and sisters.

“Even though we didn’t know them, everybody was friendly in that small town. Of course we had Pringle of Scotland (a Scottish fashion brand that was started in Hawick) there and they made uniforms for the army.

“After that, they made clothing for exports because the people of the UK could not afford the prices that clothing manufacturers were charging those days. I met my husband in Hawick. He was in the army camp. He came from Glasgow.”

Janice and Fergie got married in 1954.

They lived in Glasgow for a while, where Fergie worked as a boilermaker at the shipyards.

Following a period in which several industrial strikes took place, the couple decided that they wanted to move abroad.

They considered moving to Canada, but decided that it was is too cold a place to live. Fergie applied for a boilermaker position in Australia and soon the couple relocated to Down Under where Fergie worked for a couple of year.

The company later asked Fergie to go to New Zealand and soon Janet and Fergie were off to Aoteroa.

“New Zealand reminded me of Scotland, but I couldn’t settle there. I didn’t have many friends,” Janet recalls.

Eventually, the couple decided to return to Scotland.

“We got a big shock. It wasn’t the home that we remembered. So, after a couple of years we decided that if we move to South Africa for a couple of years and we both get jobs there, we would have enough money to go back to Australia and buy a house,” Janet says.

Janet and Fergie fell in love with South Africa and decided to make this country their home.

While Fergie passed away in 2006, Janet and her two sons, John (68) and Danny (66), remain in South Africa.

John resides in Vereeniging, while Danny lives down at the coast in Durban. Janet has several grandchildren. Two of them reside in Australia, two of them in New Zealand and the other two live in England.