The Central Coast lost one of its best-known personalities when Hilda Bird (nee Lasseter) recently died at the age of 98.
Hilda was well known through her long-running radio show, Tea and Talk, on Radio Five-o-Plus and her long involvement with Woy Woy Little Theatre (WWLT).
She was a presenter on community radio for more than 20 years, reluctantly leaving Five-o-Plus at the age of 90.
She and husband Alan were actively involved in the establishment of the Peninsula Theatre and the Gosford Regional Gallery as well as acting in and directing many plays for WWLT.
Hilda was an amateur theatre and music hall enthusiast and performed with some of England’s stars of yesteryear in Britain’s Heart of England Music Society.
Local audiences saw a glimpse of this talent to amuse in her comic turns in the Five-O-Plus Follies.
Hilda features in the publication Significant Women of the Central Coast (2007) and received a nomination for Senior Australian of the Year.
Born in Portsmouth, England, and spending the war years in Scotland, Hilda and Alan also lived in South Africa for a few years before retiring to the Central Coast in 1986.
They quickly became involved in the local community through voluntary activities, playing tennis and their love of the performing arts.
Hilda and Alan were married for 72 years until his death in 2020.
She continued to live independently in a Kincumber retirement village and stayed physically, mentally and socially active until her sudden death on November 22.
Hilda and Alan had two children and one grandchild.