Community celebrates Máirín’s 108th birthday

ONE of Ireland’s oldest residents will celebrate her 108th birthday on Saturday, May 21.

Máirín Hughes will enjoy the birthday celebrations with her nearest and dearest at Maryfield Nursing Home in Chapelizod on Saturday.

The nursing home have prepared an itinerary for the day, which includes welcoming friends, local residents and former neighbours to the tranquil grounds of the nursing home, located beside the Weir, for the special day.

Last year, Maryfield commissioned a ‘pope-mobile’ to bring Máirín out for a spin in Chapelizod and the Phoenix Park, where she met President Michael D Higgins’s wife Sabina.

A sprightly Centenarian, Máirín was born in 1914, but appears far younger than she is, enjoying walks daily in the scenic surroundings at Maryfield, reading, listening to classical music, and the odd drop of sherry.

A trailblazer for women in the workplace between the 1930s and 1960s, Máirín did a degree in science and a diploma in education at University College Cork, and worked in the pathology lab in UCC’s Department of Medicine for 14 years.

She lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19, which killed at least 50 million worldwide, and recalls dropping food supplies to the doorstep of sick neighbours in Kerry with her older brothers Ruaridh and Conn before “running away”.

On Saturday morning, Fr Liam Dunne will deliver Mass at the chapel in Maryfield – Máirín is a strong woman of faith.

Following this there will be a dinner with friends in the activity room.

After dinner, the grounds of Maryfield will welcome members of the community, local residents, former neighbours, and a choir for celebrations, which will include speeches, music and an ice cream van.