Centenarian Alice is Liverpool Football Club’s Oldest Dedicated Fan

At 109 years old, Alice McNicholl is the oldest member of the Southern Cross Care community. She is also believed to be among the 10 oldest people in Australia.

Born in England in 1915, Alice was one of 10 children and naturally learned to sew from a young age - setting her up for a career and a lifelong hobby.

Alice has never played sport, although she was a good ballroom dancer, but she has always been interested in watching sport, especially soccer.

She has been a member of the Liverpool Football Club’s fan base since she was 10 years old and went to watch the matches every Saturday with her father.

The Club recently sent her an acknowledgement for being their oldest and most long-standing, dedicated fan.

Alice took a job at the Mersey Bedding and Upholstery Factory in Liverpool when she was 16 and began going to Blackpool with a group of friends regularly on weekends.

One of these friends, Bill, had also started working at the factory at the age of 16 and the couple started dating.

At the age of 23 Alice and Bill married with a large wedding at St Annes Church in Liverpool.

With her interest and skills in sewing, Alice of course made her own wedding dress and also the four dresses for her bridesmaids.

As there were no electronic sewing machines at the time, all of the dresses were made on a small sewing machine operated by turning a wheel by hand.

Bill was in the Territorial Army, so when WWII broke out in 1939, he was conscripted to the regular army and served away from home for seven years - leaving only a few weeks before their first son was born.

The family’s home was bombed during the war and in the aftermath Alice found it difficult to find upholstery work.

She decided England just wasn’t the same anymore and took two years to convince Bill that the family should move to Australia.

They finally migrated on the ship The Australia in 1956 as part of the Australian Government’s post war migration drive.

By that time, Alice had four boys aged 3 months, 2 years, 5 years and 16 years, but she said it was a move both she and Bill never regretted.

Alice was employed at Jaffers Furniture at Port Adelaide for 12 years and then at David Jones, where she worked until she reluctantly had to retire due to compulsory retirement regulations.

After work she continued sewing clothes voluntarily, in particular making wedding dresses for friends, giving her time and expert skill at the machine freely.

On retirement Alice and Bill moved to Queensland where they enjoyed many years socialising with friends, over a Guinness or two, and travelling to different parts of Australia.

Alice continued to live independently, with some family support, until she moved to John Paul II Village Residential Care at 107 years old.

Despite her vast knowledge and experience, Alice said she doesn’t have any advice to give on how to live a long life.

“I’ve always just followed everyone else’s advice,” she said. Perhaps that is good advice in itself!

But Alice has always kept busy and made use of every waking hour - if not for sewing then for reading or tending her colourful potted flowers that she so enjoyed watching grow.

She said the best part of her life has been her marriage and family.

Find out more about Southern Cross Care