Elizabeth Forbes still on cue at 104

Elizabeth Forbes on her 104th birthday with members of the Te Puke and District Highland Pipe Band, from left, Sue Muir, Katrina Williams, Petra Reid and Esther Williams.

They say being good at pool is the sign of a misspent youth.

They don't say anything about the implications of still playing when you are 104 years old.

Once one of her favourite pastimes, Te Puke Country Lodge resident Elizabeth Forbes still managed at least a couple of shots last week as she celebrated her 104th birthday. Just a few months ago she was playing regularly.

The celebrations saw the gathering of five generations of her family and, as a nod to her Scottish heritage, performances by members of the Te Puke and District Highland Pipe Band and a group of Scottish dancers.

Elizabeth, originally from Aberdeenshire, said she really enjoyed the pipers.

"I'm used to that sort of thing, but you don't get to hear them that often these days," she said.

Elizabeth clearly still has a sharp sense of humour and, when asked what she would wish for if she could, replied she would like to go back to school.

It wasn't that she was particularly fond of her school years - "but I'd be young again".
But, despite her age, Elizabeth still has a full life.

She knits cushion covers and teddies for her great-great-grandchildren - and the Te Puke Country Lodge staff - and they are still in demand.

"[The teddies] go to Auckland. They all want them once they have seen them. I'd like to stop now, but I can't," she jokes, "there's a lot of work in them, it drives me crazy.

"I used to make mittens - not gloves because there were too many fingers - and scarves for great-grandchildren."

Looking her best is important for Elizabeth and she says there is one secret to keeping her skin in good condition - Nivea cream.

Her friends are clearly aware of this as at least two tubs of the product were given to her on her birthday.

"It keeps me young," she says, adding that her long life is down to worry and hard work.
Hard work was a feature of her early life in Scotland where, at 14, she "went into service" as a cook at the big houses and hunting lodges around the area, dealing with the grouse, trout, salmon and deer and preparing dishes for guests at the lodge.

Elizabeth and her late husband Alexander and sons Eric, who has now passed away, and Ken, who lives in Papamoa, first arrived in New Zealand in 1961.

She first moved to the Western Bay of Plenty from Auckland in her late 90s, moving into a unit in Papamoa where she was still living when she turned 100.

She is well known among her friends and relatives for having hitched a ride in the removal truck the day she moved because the bus left too early in the morning.

"There were two men with me in the middle - I sat between them all the way down."
It was also the day she met Cathleen, one of her closest friends.

"She was coming down the street and she asked me - 'are you coming or going?' I said 'I've just arrived'.

"We got talking - it was lunchtime - so she said she'd come back in the afternoon and we had a cup of tea and have been friends ever since."

Elizabeth still enjoys a sherry - every now and then - and a brandy with water to take off the sharpness, but says she has never really enjoyed the drink of her home country - whisky.