A lifetime of ambition for Menora Gardens Centenarian

For Menora Gardens’ newest centenarian Anthony (Tony) a career in medicine took him from London to Africa before heading to Perth to build a new life.

Born on 19^th March 1925 in London, the Bolton Clarke Menora Gardens resident says he distinctly remembers many comical moments from his mischievous childhood.

“I remember standing on the steps of our home in Goldhurst Terrace throwing snowballs at passing vehicles and being stopped by an angry passing stranger,” Tony said.

“Why these incidents should remain in my memory when so much has been forgotten, I do not know!”

Tony found inspiration in his father’s medical career in various practices and hospitals across London and even at sea as a ship’s doctor.

“When World War II broke out, my father was in Argentina on the second of his two voyages and the lack of news about the movements of his ship caused us much anxiety from home,” he recalls.

“Eventually, after about three months - and six weeks later than originally expected - my father arrived home safely and had no wish of returning to sea.”

With his father home and operating his own practice, Tony commenced his own studies at the London Royal Colleges of Medicine and Surgery.

“Then while I was working in London Hospital in 1947, my father passed away unexpectedly which I would say altered the course of my life,” he says.

“I could see no alternative but for me to abandon my plans for a hospital career and carry on my father’s practice, and that’s what I did.”

He ran the practice for a number of years with his late wife Muriel and daughter Louise, but says he soon began to feel that he wanted more from his career.

“So with Muriel’s consent and agreement, I applied to join what was then known as the Colonial Medical Service and I received my first appointment in northern Nigeria from 1955.”

Moving around Nigeria on various assignments, the family got to know many different villages and larger cities around the country, assisting with general medical care and campaigns against smallpox and yaws.

They returned to London in 1963 and in 1964 made the move to Western Australia welcoming three more children along the way. After running his own successful practice in Morley, Tony eventually retired and now resides at the Bolton Clarke Menora Gardens residential care home.

Now after celebrating his birthday, he says family and contentment have helped him reach the 100 year milestone.

“I think it’s a bit of an accident that I have lived to be 100!

“But I have had a really good and relatively easy life with a lovely family and here I am today – I think you have to be content with life.”