A Century of Stories at the Bolton Clarke Centenarian Club Launch

Seven centenarians were the guests of honour at the launch of Bolton Clarke’s Centenarian Club at Parliament House, Brisbane earlier this month. 

Members inducted into the club, created to celebrate and tell the stories of centenarian clients and residents, were Kittie Timperley, 101, Lindsay Boyd, 101, Thelma Sprott, 100, Rosa Bock, 100, Vince Geraghty, 100, Elma Tadman, 104, and Nina Macionis, 104.

Bolton Clarke Chairman Pat McIntosh said it was an honour to launch the Centenarian Club, which celebrates around 150 centenarian residents and clients, representing 15,000 years of life experience.

“Over the past year we have been working with our Centenarians to gather their stories and their memories of what has happened in their lives spanning past 100 years,” he said.

“They’ve told us about growing up on the land, about arriving here as immigrants – one of our South Australian centenarians even played an integral role in the moon landing.

“Our Centenarian Club aims to create new opportunities to honour and record the lives our clients and residents have lived, build their relationships with their communities and each other and reinforce their sense of identity and continuation of their story.”

Bolton Clarke Institute Researcher Dr Liz Cyarto said Australia’s centenarian population had grown to 3,500 in 2016, with that number expected to reach 100,000 by 2084.

Our Lady of Lourdes student Hannah Winkler, 11, interviewed centenarians at the event, posing questions provided by young people on social media.

Asked what was her secret to happiness, Thelma Sprott said family was the simple answer.

Meanwhile Kittie Timperley said her advice to her younger self would be “behave yourself” – although when asked if she’d heed her own advice her response was a “no comment”.

Lindsay Boyd said the hearing aid and new medications were without a doubt the best technological advances during his lifetime. 

Across the organisation Bolton Clarke supports over 150 Centenarians through at home support services, retirement living and residential aged care. The Centenarian Club aims to create new opportunities to honour and record the lives of our residents, build relationships and reinforce their sense of identity and continuation of their story.

Find out more about Bolton Clarke.