Face Front Participant turns 100 years old!
In late January, many members of the Face Front family attended InterACTion participant Lydia’s 100th birthday celebrations. Annie Smol MBE gave this heartfelt speech at the event…
“To Lydia
I’ve known Lydia for nearly 30 years through various theatre projects that we have been involved with. Lydia excels as an actor, singer and a creative writer of stories, poems and plays. She was also invaluable as a volunteer when we took creative projects into schools, due to her wealth of experience as a teacher and the great relationship she has with young people.
Lydia has always been a huge inspiration to me in how to lead a full life. She always says yes to any new creative challenge, no matter how challenging. She says that she wants to get the most out of her life and always goes the extra mile giving 100 % to every task she undertakes. She says in one of the pieces she wrote, ‘I’m determined to make the best of every day I have and help out where I can.’
Over the years Lydia has taken on so many challenges, the following are just a few that come to mind.
Her theatre performance in ‘The Good woman of Szechwan’ in 2004 where Lydia learnt and performed the difficult script of this classic play. Her role at 90 years old as Gladys Aylward in the play with Face Front she helped to write, she took on this lead part even with her restricted mobility and she performed her role so professionally and brilliantly.
Lydia would always take on a challenge and in her late 80’s she performed a rap, which she did like a true ‘gangster Granny’!
And one role that particularly moved me was when she was 92. She wrote and performed a part of her life story in the play ‘The Originators’. And what featured most strongly was the enduring love that she has for her husband. She told us of the rose bush that he gave her and how she tenderly cared for it until grew over 8 foot (3 meters) and was covered in roses she says in the play
‘He died many years ago, but I have never stopped loving him and every anniversary I admire my roses and I still write him a poem…”
Finally in her mid 90’s Lydia wrote and performed in a radio play about her experienced during the pandemic, which was selected for an online exhibition by the Mayor’s office.
Lydia, my inspiration, a very happy 100th birthday to you.”
