Circus troupe’s birthday surprise for fellow performer

A CIRCUS celebration was held to celebrate the 101st birthday of a woman in Sonning.

Edna Wall, who lives at Sonning Garden care home, was an acrobatic performer in her youth.

She was in a group called the Kremlin Four, from the age of 14 to 16, and it disbanded when the men were called up to fight in the Second World War.

Susan Johnstone, manager at the care home in Old Bath Road, had previously watched Giffords Circus and invited them in to perform in the garden.

The group performed parts of Avalon, the story of King Arthur, which included Godfathers from Ukraine, who balanced on each other creating a human tower.

A band also performed as part of the circus which residents clapped their hands and danced to.

The jester joked with residents even taking his hat off and putting it on a resident’s head, so he could swallow a balloon. Mrs Wall, whose birthday is in April, said the show reminded her of when she performed. She could still perform head stands when she was 80 and says that keeping active is the key to her long life. Mrs Wall said: “It brought back a lot of memories. It made me think about the past and I thought ‘that used to be me’. I have always been very athletic, even when I gave up, it was tennis, swimming, you name it.”

Ms Johnstone said: “I remembered seeing a picture of Edna performing and I wondered if Giffords would come so I gave them a call and they very kindly said yes.”