Raising cup of chai to 100 years

Putting long life and good health down to the fact she never drank, Murrumba Downs’ resident Priscilla (Ruth) Chamier has celebrated her 100^th birthday.

With her friends and family, Ruth was showered with gifts on January 27 at Bolton Clarke Inverpine Residential Aged Care.

But, one which brought back almost a century-old memory was her Bolton Clarke Centenarian Club China teacup.

“My father was in the British Army and I was born in Rawalpindi, India and that’s where I spent my childhood,” Ruth said.

“We went to boarding schools up in the mountains by train and there were about 100 girls in the school.

“When you would get off the train there would be a chaiwala running up and down the train station serving tea and that’s what I thought about when I was given the teacup for my birthday.”

Ruth’s life has been filled with adventures across the globe, but her recollections of the memories she made in India have stuck with her to this day.

Holiday travels

“We would go to Lahore for shopping and if we wanted to go fishing, we would all go as a family with my father,” she said.

“He would always throw the fish back even if we wanted to keep them because he didn’t want to take away any of the fishing from the locals.

“My parents later moved to Australia because my father had to work, so I would come back and forth during school holidays.”

After all of her travels, marrying at 19 and having four children, Ruth finally came back for good and settled in Australia.

She lived at Inverpine’s co-located retirement village for more than two decades before moving in the residential aged care home.

As for her advice on living a long and happy life? Ruth raises a teacup to contentment.

“Be happy and content with what you have got,” she said.