One day at a time: Co Derry centenarian's secret to long life

A County Derry woman who celebrated her 100th birthday last week has said the secret to long life is to neither look too far ahead nor over your shoulder.

Esther Cassidy, from Ballymaguigan, received her various letters of congratulations last week after clocking up a century spent on the Loughshore.

One of eight siblings and wife to the late John Patrick Cassidy, the mother-of-seven also has 34 grandchildren and 42 great-grandchildren.

She told the County Derry Post the secret to it all was to keep fuss to a minimum.

“Well I don't really have a secret, but I took every day as it came. I didn't always try and keep up with the Jones's,” she said.

“I knew there were some people above me and some not as well off as I was – though I had nothing and neither did anyone else! Take one day at a time is the best idea.

“It feels the same as when I was 99; the same as yesterday and the same as last week. All the same. Sure I'm growing every day.”

Among the hundreds of greetings cards, flowers and mass bouquets at her home in Ballymaguigan was displayed a special quilt, lovingly crafted by 116 family members.

Each square of the quilt represented a special memory from each of them, and was a nod to Esther's creativity over the years.

“Years ago, they had all mini skirts and then there was a big pile of them, so I cut them all up into squares and made a quilt out of them,” she laughed.

“I backed it with four flour bags and stitched it together. In my day there was no classes for this and that, you had to learn your own things.

“It'll be nice to look at when I get round to it People were asking me if I made it!”

Esther relaxing among the hundreds of cards, flowers and mass bouquets she received.

Over her 100 years, Mrs Cassidy has lived through the Second World War and the Troubles in the North, but the biggest changes were felt in her everyday life.

“We always had to walk, because there was no other way of going. They used to say 'shank's mare,” she said.

“We would have walked to and from the ceilís too. If it was a bit farther now you might have gone on the bar of the bicycle.

“I used to cycle from here to Castledawson to work; I could have done it in about 15 minutes. We'd have carried water from the well to wash as well, it was a good bit from the house.

“The biggest change though is in the money and the pay. My first pay was four and sixpence and I didn't get carrying it home because I wasn't insured. My sister had to carry it home for me.

“You'd earn maybe a pound and two shillings or something in a week weaving in the factory in Castledawson.

“I liked it well enough, but it was the only thing for you then! My first bicycle was a pound; I got it second hand. The lady that sold it had got a better one; she got a three-speed on hers.

“I always think about them now doing their so many steps. How many steps did a man do when he was ploughing a field?”

Esther with her late husband John Patrick Cassidy on their wedding day.

Esther's penchant for creativity has been subtly passed onto her children, with talent for crochet, embroidery, painting and poetry creating a rich tapestry.

However, that creativity was often born out of necessity.

“I remember once we were making a cake in the oven pot; we'd got a cake tin. We had no turf, so I gathered briars to burn on the top of the lid to make an oven out of it,” she said.

“You'd the fire below and a fire on the lid as well. They were easily lit, and they burned a good while so you had good heat for the top of the oven. Now you only need a button.

“You'd pick the blackberries first and you tore more of your clothes, though you usually got a pair of new shoes out of it for going back to school!”

The family held a large celebration in St Trea's GAC last weekend for Esther's birthday, a large event for a woman who didn't have a birthday party until she was 95.

Sporting a dress she created herself on the steps of McElhone's.

Her faith is important to her – she swears by St Anne's oil and says a prayer to her every day – and the priest changed the time of the mass for her to attend last week for the first time since Covid hit.

The Bishop of Armagh's letter of congratulations on her birthday was hung proudly on the wall behind her; alongside it was a Papal blessing.

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Letters also had arrived from representatives of the late Queen Elizabeth II, while a beautifully written letter from Irish President Michael D Higgins took pride of place on the wall.

Amid the fuss, Esther glanced at a photograph taken of her when she was younger and delivered a line that summed up her creativity, wit and pragmatism in one go.

“I made that dress. It was pink and white and you put a braid around it. You have to do what does with you. Use what you have and you'll never want,” she said.