Ealing (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Beryl Carr, a 103-year-old volunteer at an Ealing hospital café, has been named the world’s oldest female volunteer, inspiring admiration worldwide.
Beryl Carr, who works as a cashier and enjoys creating sandwiches, volunteers one day a week at the Friends Café in Ealing Hospital.
In 2003, at the age of 81, Beryl started working in the hospital as a food prep worker and cashier. Beryl is now listed in the online Guinness Book of Records after more than two decades of hard work.
Beryl was born in Acton in 1922 and later moved to Cambridgeshire with her husband after growing up in Ealing with her two brothers and sister. After her husband passed away, she returned to Ealing to be near her daughter Val, which is how the concept of volunteering was born.
“I moved back to Ealing and I was alone,”
Beryl previously told MyLondon.
“I didn’t know anyone and my daughter said I should try volunteering. I came for the interview, said I would do whatever they needed, and I have been here ever since. I would recommend it to anyone.”
Drawn to the café’s social atmosphere, Beryl said:
“It’s a lovely community.” During her time at the café, the grandmother has worked as a cashier, occasionally lending a hand making sandwiches and doing other necessary tasks.
The great thing about volunteering is that you are helping other people but in funny way you are helping yourself as well. Volunteering gave me a new lease on life and it is something I would recommend to anyone regardless of their age.”
Beryl was born in 1922 when George V occupied the throne, Gandhi faced imprisonment for resisting British rule in India, and archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb. She endured the Blitz throughout World War Two, which saw her bombed out of her home, and contributed to the war effort by stitching barrage balloons and serving as a fire watcher.
In 1942, she met her husband Bill at a dance and they remained together as a happy couple for 60 years until his death. Having experienced the war first hand, she finds it difficult to witness all the conflict featured in news reports in recent years. She added:
“We spent a lot of time in the bomb shelter in our back garden and one of the nights we chanced sleeping inside there was an air raid and the house was hit. I ended up under a cupboard covered in plaster.
It’s terrible to see all the news of war on the TV nowadays. When I see those pictures it reminds me of what I lived through in London during the Blitz. They weren’t easy times and people forget that rationing continued long after the war.”
When was Beryl Carr officially recognised as the world’s oldest female volunteer?
Beryl Carr became Vodafone’s oldest female volunteer by formal recognition in July 2022 at the age of 100 Years and 188 days. The milestone included being awarded Volunteer of the Year at the London North-West University Healthcare NHS Trust’s Annual Staff Excellence Awards.
Beryl, a volunteer at the Friends Café in Ealing Hospital since she started in December 2003 was recognized at this time with certificates and public acknowledgement from local dignitaries in Ealing, which included her four other fellow volunteers.
Her commitment to volunteering has seen her publically recognized as the oldest female volunteer in the world. Beryl has also been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest female volunteer in the world.
Beryl is very popular at the hospital and has been described as “a bit of an institution,” by Ann Cousins, the café manager.