Tributes paid to Brighton and Hove's 'oldest' woman Eve Rudland

Family members said Eve Rudland, who was born shortly after the First World War broke out, was a wonderful and extraordinary person who was “always on the go”.

Her motto was “if one door closes, another one opens, and it is always for a reason" and her happy disposition endeared her to all who met her.

Eve, who lived in Manor Place, Kemp Town, Brighton, was born in Spitalfields, London, on October 14, 1914 and was one of five children. She is believed to have been the oldest woman living in the city.

She could remember being a toddler during the Great War and would tell how she hid in a horse stable after a bomb dropped. She got lost but was found by a doctor who carried her to a police station in the East End.

Eve Rudland aged 6

The family moved to Brighton when she was four and Eve attended Middle Street Primary then Coombe Road School, where she learned what was to become one of her great passions – knitting.

She carried on knitting throughout her long life, making jumpers for child Aids victims in Africa and her family, including her 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great grandchildren.

She even knitted a gold swimsuit for her niece Carol Theobald, the Brighton and Hove City councillor for Patcham who twice won the Miss Brighton title in the Sixties.

Carol wore the swimsuit when she was competing in beauty contests.

Carol paid tribute to Eve, who died on October 19, aged 107 and five days, following a fall at her home.

She said: "She was a wonderful person, a very positive person, and an extraordinary person. If it hadn't had been for the fall, she would have still been here.

"You could talk to her about anything, she knew what was happening in the world. She was with it, her mind was very good, she was always doing crosswords and knitting.

"She was knitting right up until the end. She was making jumpers for children abroad who did not have anything to wear.

"To still be all there as the oldest person in Brighton and Hove is wonderful.”

Eve was widowed in 1960 when her beloved husband Reg died of cancer aged 46.

She first met Reg when she was 14. He took her to the cinema and bought her chocolate but she was so excited about having a date that she forgot about it and it melted.

Reg was besotted by Eve and told friends she was the girl he was going to marry. They wed in 1933 when they were 19 and had five children Sue, “Little” Reg, Bob, Maureen and Janet.

Daughter Sue Hemsley said the couple were devoted to one another and after Reg died, Eve would look at a photo of him every night before bed and say: “It won't be long until we are together again mate.”

Eve excelled at school and had wanted to be a piano teacher but her mother sold her piano. Instead she did all kinds of jobs, including working as a cleaner at a blind school and Brighton railway station and working in an ironmongery store and a sweet shop. She later owned a greengrocers in Manor Hill, Whitehawk.

Eve Rudland on her 105th birthday

Sue, 72, who lives in Southwick, said: "She was a wonderful woman and mother, and she appreciated everything anyone ever did for her.

"She was always on the go. Even in her last years, she used to go to a club to play cards with her friends right up until the pandemic started.

"Each of us had our own moment with her before she went, she was such a good person, and you had to know her to know that.

"She would always say if one door closes, another one open, and it is always for a reason."

Despite Eve's grand age, she was still very active and would cook roasts regularly. She was also a keen writer, especially of poetry, as well as a talented pianist who taught others to play.

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For her 100th birthday, Eve's children collated all her poems, or "perms" as she called them, into a book which sold for £10 a copy and raised £700 for Cancer Research UK.

Eve, whose funeral was attended by 50 friends and family members, was held on Friday at The Downs Crematorium in Bear Road, Brighton, was one of the oldest people in Sussex and is believed to have been the oldest in Brighton and Hove.

The oldest in the county is Marjorie Kinne, of Haywards Heath, who celebrated her 111th birthday on August 1.

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