Anne O’Regan pats the seat for me to sit beside her. I see her enthusiasm for life in her bright, alert eyes. I notice how well she looks, the lipstick is on and her complexion is beautiful.

We are gathered in her home of 70 years, where she lives with her daughter Monica and her youngest son Micheál. Martin, her eldest son, known for his long years of service to the beet section of IFA, tells me: “Mother never dwells on the past. She is always talking about the future.”

This positive attitude has stood Anne well through the years. She celebrated her 100th birthday on 23 March. It is a brilliant achievement for a great Irish mother, who reared nine children and ran her modest farmhouse with aplomb. Another son Donal, a farmer, is also a teaching colleague of mine.

Anne names her children: Elma, Martin, Margaret, Monica, Theresa, Cormac, Donal, Kay and Micheál. Kay had Down syndrome and died at 14, due to a heart condition. Anne says that Kay had decided she was going to be a farmer. She brought great joy to the family. Two of the girls, Elma and Theresa emigrated to Australia, but are both home for the celebrations.

Growing up

Anne Kiely grew up on a farm in Knockduff, Kinsale. Her father, Charles died of flu in 1918, when she was only 18 months old. Her mother, Margaret wore black for the rest of her life. Anne learned much of what she needed for life from her mother.

She went to Summer Cove National School on her bicycle and helped out on the farm with her three siblings.

Anne is a bit unsure as to where she first met Dan-Joe O’Regan, who hailed from Ballinacourtha, Belgooly. “I find it hard to remember,” she admits. Nevertheless, she is crystal clear about her wedding dress. She bought it in the Munster Arcade in Cork City. Her daughter Monica hands her the black-and-white photograph. “My dress was gold coloured,” she whispers, to emphasise the preciousness of it. “As it was just after the war, I had to save the coupons for it. Everything was bought with coupons then,” she added.

It was truly a spectacular dress, with beautiful bows on a full skirt. The handsome young Dan-Joe beside her looked equally dashing. They were married in St Peter and Paul’s church in Cork City and had the wedding breakfast in the Metropole Hotel. They hired a car for the occasion.

Dan-Joe was a grain, dairy and beef farmer. Back then, they had 16 cows. Anne says: “I hated milking them! I’d have the pram in the yard with me. That time milking was by hand, but I’d have help.”

For a time two of the O’Regan uncles lived with them. Ann wonders how she and Dan-Joe managed to keep them all, along with the seasonal workers who came to work on the farm.

Providing for the family

We talk about rearing all those children. Those present joke that the bag remained packed for maternity hospital from one year to the next. Anne nods her agreement.

Rearing her family in the 1950’s was tough. Anne remembers cooking in the bastible over the open fire, putting clothes through the mangle, the arrival of electricity, the first fridge and the first washing machine. She made all her children’s clothes and kept a fruitful kitchen garden. She baked fresh brown and white soda bread each morning.

In those days there wasn’t a lot of money around, but Anne was resourceful and found ways to provide for her growing family. She kept hens and bartered the eggs for fresh groceries from a van that called to the farm weekly. The van was run by a lady named Han Riordan, whom the O’Regans remember with fondness.

They also remember their lovely neighbours who they called to each evening on the way home from school. They got sweets in one house and biscuits in another. Anne grimaces at the memory. From her vantage point in the kitchen, she could watch the children making their way home. She would see them calling to the neighbours. “I used to be mortified!” she said.

Still, Martin and Elma admitted that the sweets were worth Mother’s scolding.

The laughter that these little stories generated as five of the O’Regan “children” remembered them painted a picture of the happiest of homes. Anne was known for her good humour, and she has given that ability to laugh to them all.

She has seen a lot of change in her lifetime. She embraced life, travelling abroad often in later years – and even to Australia on two occasions in her 80s.

Dan-Joe was involved in politics, the NFA and he was a founding member of Belgooly Show. He loved the Ploughing Championships. Each year at ploughing time, Dan-Joe would pack his bag and, without any prior communication, Dan Dempsey would arrive for him. The two would head off for a few days.

Anne was also interested in politics, involved with the show, St Joseph’s Young Priests Society and the ICA. Anne drove the pony and trap in the early years but never mastered the car.

We admired all the beautiful cards that Anne received for her birthday. She got her cheque from the President and a brooch from the bishop. She is enjoying her new status as a centenarian. Anne now attends daycare in Kinsale, where she has many friends. She is a great lady, who is cherished daily by her children, grandchildren and extended family.

In her own words, the secret for a long life is “hard work”!