Avid Press reader Millie turns 103 tomorrow

Miss Foss went to Vale Primary School before going to the Girls’ Intermediate. She walked to school every day from her home in Route Militaire and she maintained an active lifestyle. She developed a passion for tennis and represented the island before the Occupation.

She also had a love for playing the piano, taught by her mum until the age of about 10 when Miss Foss began lessons with a dedicated tutor.

She played multiple times at the Eisteddfod and remembers once playing alongside the adjudicator.

‘We played the Marche Militaire by Franz Schubert,’ she said.

At the age of 18 she turned her hobby into a career by teaching others from her home, something she did for nearly 70 years before retiring in 2007.

Miss Foss is still in contact with many of her students, and also remembers teaching former British No.1 tennis player Heather Watson.

With music playing such a huge part in her life, weekends were often spent at the Royal Hotel or the Channel Islands Hotel where Miss Foss and her friends would take part in dances.

‘I liked the tango and the waltz was my favourite,’ she said.

Aside from her creative talents, her greatest passion was driving, which she did for 76 years with a clean record, before reluctantly stopping due to failing eyesight.

Miss Foss recalls driving across Austria and Switzerland with friends she made on the trips, many of whom she still keeps in touch with today.

She said how much she loved her trips abroad. ‘I would have liked to have lived in Austria.’

Her pride and joys were two of her cars, Sunbeam Talbot 90s, one in black and the other in dark green.

She still remembers her four-digit registration number.

All these years, she said, she has been an avid Guernsey Press reader and the newspaper has been delivered to her family’s house six days a week since 1913.

She said it was very important to her during the war.

Miss Foss now reads it every morning with her coffee, and still keeps busy with gardening and cooking. She cooks every day and her favourite meal is the Sunday special roast chicken.

Miss Foss has two nephews, Ken and Denis, who live in England with their families.

Her cousin Keith Austin and his wife, Val, support her locally, along with their daughter Chantal and son Andre.

She said the secret to a long life is staying active – and a glass of sherry at night.