Aldersbrook’s very own dancing queen, Grace Sparks, celebrates her 100th birthday – still smiling, still graceful and surrounded by friends and fond memories. Here, a neighbour shares her story
It’s Saturday evening in Aldersbrook Bowls Club and just one couple is dancing on the main hall floor. But that couple is Grace and Bill Sparks, whose footwork and movement have won them several ballroom dancing awards. Their friends have learned that it’s a good time to “sit this one out” and be spectators while the Sparks do what they do best.
That dancing must have done Grace some good as she reached her 100th birthday last month and she still has that almost permanent smile on her face.
Grace was born just off City Road in Islington and lived there until she was five. The family then moved to Dagenham, where Grace lived until 1939, the year war broke out. Many of her relatives were evacuated to Horsham in Sussex, so Grace, with her mum and aunt, followed them there.
Grace never returned to school and first went to work, at the age of 15, in a tailor’s shop in Horsham, supplying military uniforms and men’s clothing. The war passed peacefully for Grace and, at the age of 18, she joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service and after training was stationed in Pwllheli in North Wales. The war ended in 1945 and she was demobbed a few months later. The family had relocated, this time to Stratford, and Grace returned there that year. She found work immediately as a clerk for a construction company and was based in Holborn.
Grace found something else as well – she met a bricklayer from Battersea. That meeting was with Bill, a man who’d served his country in the navy during the war. They married two years later and settled in Stratford, going on to have three children. In 1958, Grace made her final move when the family came to Aldersbrook. It was the start of long-standing, treasured friendships with lovely neighbours and members of the local community. Grace became an active member of Aldersbrook Women’s Club as well as the bowls club. In her later years, she became a guest in the local Contact the Elderly group, although she can no longer attend meetings as she’s become housebound under the care of her daughter, Jenny.
Grace lets it be known that she’s thoroughly enjoyed living in Aldersbrook for the past 67 years. She’s highlighted the community and neighbourly spirit the area has provided and has always appreciated that she has been privileged to live in and enjoy such a green area with a beautiful park and all that nature has to offer.
It’s no surprise that Grace has had many visitors and phone calls from her many, many friends, who now wish her a happy 100th birthday with the hope that there are many more to come.
Article submissions for local centenarians are welcome. Email editor@wnstd.com
