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Happy 100th Sophia!

Sophia Fenwick of Foxcover Court, Seaham spent her 100th birthday in hospital but that didn’t stop her celebrating her centenary in a side ward with her family and friends. In 1976 Sophia suffered a broken hip and had a pin inserted and it was that pin that, after all these years, was causing problems. By the end of March she was in hospital for four weeks to have it replaced. But her daughter Mary Johnstone reports that she is, “Doing very well now. Since the operation she has to use a Zimmer frame for some of the time and, despite this and being severely sight impaired, she is determined to stop using it as soon as she can so that she can do some jobs around the house”.

“My mother is such an optimist”, said daughter Mary. “She has led a really interesting life and, although she has had a great deal of misfortune, she has always managed to be positive and at 100 years old she is still a very content and happy person”.

Sophia was born 10 April 1907 in Cassop, County Durham. One of her earliest memories was when she was only nine years old and her father John George Adamson suffered a broken back in a pit accident at Kelloe Colliery and died two weeks later.

But Sophia also recalls wonderful stories about what Mary describes as her mother’s “marvellous life”. Like the time when she worked in service for Sir Bernard Eckstein at Oldlands Hall in Upfield, East Sussex where they received visits from royalty, the lauded and the famous.

It was in Essex where Sophia met and married her first husband but their marriage was short lived when tragedy struck and he was killed in a biking accident. However, they had been fortunate in having a son together, Frank. Sophia decided that she and Frank would return to the North East and her next job was working for Canon Hopkins, later the Dean of Durham, at St Luke’s Vicarage in Pallion, Sunderland.

Then she met Thomas Fenwick who worked at Dawdon Colliery, and they married in 1941. Sophia gave up work and dedicated herself to caring for her family: daughter Mary was born in 1942 and son Tom in 1945. Mrs Fenwick now has seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Sadly both Frank and Tom have passed away but Sophia continues to cope with her losses and still retains an optimistic view on life.

Sophia regularly visits her beloved village of Cassop, in particular the Cassop Vale National Nature Reserve where there is an abundance of the wild flowers that she has always loved throughout her life.

Best wishes and congratulations to a very special lady.