Mary Maskell – this is your life!

On June 27 1925, in a small home on Queens Road, Maidstone, a remarkable journey began – the story of Mary Maskell’s life. This summer, Mary, a much-beloved resident here at Barty House, celebrated her 100th birthday, surrounded by memories, laughter and the love of her family and friends.

Mary’s entrance into the world was anything but ordinary. Her mother, Dulcie, endured complications with the birth of her first child while a rather tipsy midwife giggled under the bed! In due course, Mary was joined by four younger siblings and the entire family lived in just two rooms with an outside toilet. Although she admits that she was “no role model” – often being bored and gleefully sabotaging her siblings’ games, Mary made up for it by taking them to the park frequently.

Herbert, Mary’s father, was a train driver and an amateur magician in his spare time. He filled the household with laughter and not a little chaos at times. Mary recalled one trick where he made a jug of milk ‘disappear’ – straight onto the floor for Dulcie to clean!

Mary attended St Michael’s School in Maidstone, where she memorably got caned by her teacher at just six years old for being late. She had taken a group of children the ‘long way’ to school on purpose, but never made that mistake again!

After a few years the family moved to Tonbridge and Mary was enrolled in a school there. While not particularly academic, she was very gifted at sport – captaining both rounders and netball teams and winning silver medals in races. She was also a keen swimmer, earning a bronze medal for lifesaving when she was 16. In fact, Mary’s grandfather, a barge skipper, had drowned in the River Medway because he could not swim. Determined to avoid his fate, Mary taught herself to swim in the same river. Despite one terrifying moment near a weir when she got into difficulty and had to be dragged ashore, she became a confident swimmer. She developed her swimming skills in the open-air pool at Tonbridge, and through her teenage years always made a point of being the first to enter the cold water when the pool opened for the season in early May!

Mary was 14 when World War Two broke out in September 1939. That very day she had taken a group of young children to Somerhill Park, about half a mile from her home in Tonbridge.

“I remember it so vividly,” she recalls. “One of the children’s fathers came cycling to find us and said we must hurry home. War had been declared, so it was time to get home and under cover – and we all ran back.”

Mary often rode on the footplate of her father’s steam engine from Tonbridge to Maidstone. She particularly remembers her father’s train stopping in Tonbridge and seeing injured soldiers served with tea and sandwiches at the station.

VE Day – 8 May 1945 – was a day that would bring the end of the war in Europe and change many people’s lives, but it was particularly momentous for Mary. Celebrating with friends in Tonbridge High Street, Mary was dancing the Palais Glide when her line of revellers collided with a group of soldiers. This was her introduction to Eric Bradburn, a soldier from Manchester.

“I literally fell on him,” she laughs. “And 11 months later, we were married!” The story of how Mary met Eric appeared in a local newspaper to celebrate the 60th anniversary of VE Day in 2005.

The couple, who initially lived in Manchester, had three children – Clive, Malcolm and Vivienne – and moved to Leybourne in Kent. Sadly, Eric passed away at 41, leaving Mary to raise the children alone. She later got married again, to school caretaker John Maskell, and became a much-loved dinner lady at Shepway Primary School, fondly known by all as ‘The Custard Lady.’

Throughout her life Mary loved to travel and all over Europe, especially Austria, Switzerland, France and Germany, and also went further afield Canada to visit relatives. She was particularly awed by Niagara Falls.

Mary’s son, Clive Bradburn, former Chairman of Maidstone Swimming Club for the Disabled, recalls his mother teaching, leading by example and inspiring others with her tenacity and kindness. In fact, Mary swam until she was 92, earning admiration as the club’s oldest member and being featured in a local newspaper in 2017. “She is a great inspiration to us all,” Clive says.

Nowadays, Mary is a beloved grandmother to seven grandchildren and great-grandmother to eleven, and they keep in regular touch with her.

Mary’s entire life is a real testament to resilience, humour and love, and there are also plenty of fascinating insights about her incredible journey in her Little Red Book.