Nature lover Olive is surrounded by flowers at 102nd birthday party
A KEEN naturalist and traveller has celebrated her 102nd birthday at a care home in Frimley Green.
Olive Bush moved into Cedar Lodge around five years ago and celebrated her milestone there with family and friends on July 3.
Grandson Philip Morley, who lives in Woking, said his nan grew up in Peckham, London and worked at the Liberty department store.
She met her husband, Fred in the late 1920s and they had a daughter Daphne, Mr Morley’s mother, shortly before the Second World War.
The family moved to a small village in Kent to be nearer Fred, who was placed in a sanitorium after he contracted tuberculosis. He died in the late-1940s and Olive remarried Douglas Bush a couple of years later.
“I’m not sure she did it strictly for love, although they were very close,” said Mr Morley. “She always said my grandfather was the love of her life.”
Together, Mr and Mrs Bush were among the first to enjoy package holidays to Europe and enjoyed exploring France and Italy.
Born in 1962, Mr Morley said he fondly remembered visiting his grandmother and Doug’s house in Sevenoaks, Kent, with his brothers David and Andrew.
“She was a big part of our lives,” he said.
“They had a lovely little bungalow down there. We used to go out walking in the park.
“My nan loved animals and nature, particularly birds – she was always a member of the RSPB.”
After Doug died during the early-1970s, Olive moved to Old Woking to be closer to her daughter Daphne and son-in-law Ken, and also her younger sister Violet.
Olive was a passionate member of St Peter’s Church in Old Woking and remains one of the oldest people to have climbed up the church steeple when in her late 80s.
Even well into her 90s, Olive would still take a morning walk – her ‘constitutional’ – around the village.
“She always was an outdoor person,” added Mr Morley. “That was her passion. She loved the breeze and the sun on her face. If she had her way, she’d have lived in a little wooden cabin in the countryside.”