On Sunday 10th August 2025 at our local MSIA ministers meeting we had the honour of celebrating Margret New’s 106th birthday.

So, we called in the Royal Guard to play Happy Birthday

then we all sang, ending with “she’s a jolly good fellow and so say all of us, hip hip hooray.” (An English tradition).

Isabel New, Margret’s daughter writes:

Margret was born nine months after World War 1 ended, the eldest daughter of a senior police officer and a parlour maid, who met at Chatham Docks where her father was on patrol during the war.

After leaving school at 16, Margret worked as Comptometer Operator. An occupation she pursued until she became a parent in 1950 and resumed when her three daughters were in seniour school. She retired early to care for her husband who had lost his sight. She looked after him through two strokes – his third proved fatal.

Always a doer and a giver, Margret joined MSIA in the early nineties following her husband’s death. Her service to the MSIA community came when Nathalie Franks invited Margret to do the bookkeeping for MSIA UK, culminating in 4 years service on the UK/Europe Ministerial Board when she was in her late nineties.

A mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother, she has ministered to many in the MSIA community over the years and is an inspiration {an honorary mother} to many. Margret shared that she is “very grateful to MSIA and one of the keys is selflessness.”

Nathalie says that her wisdom, wit and sheer determination has touched everyone in the community. She is an amazing woman. She is also due to be put into MSIA’s book of records as being the oldest minister in the global history of MSIA.

Thanks also to her daughter and fellow minister Isabel New for her daily care to her mum.

We love you Margret💜

Baruch Bashan

Nathalie