Positive outlook and staying active is 100-year-old Ted Moule’s advice to a rich life

Hobart’s Ted Moule has lived an amazing life in his 100 years, but there’s so much more left to do, he wishes he could live 100 years more. Find out more here >>

Ted Moule who is 100 and remains active. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

When Ted Moule left school in London aged 14, he never imagined he would one day be living at the bottom of the world, on the grounds of a chocolate factory, servicing Tasmania’s first and only computer.

“It was huge, at least three times the size of this room,” Mr Moule said.

“Cadbury’s wouldn’t buy it unless my company sent an engineer to service it around the clock. That was me.”

Mr Moule, who recently turned 100, enjoys defying expectations. He still drives, plays table tennis and pool, flies a drone and orders his groceries online.

“Why wouldn’t you? It’s cheaper and it’s delivered!” he says, sitting in his favourite armchair in the South Hobart home he’s lived for more than 20 years.

Ted Moule who is 100 and remains active. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Mr Moule was born in West Green, Tottenham in 1924, to a Mum who was “just my Mum” and a Dad who worked as a mental health nurse.

After leaving school “Because I wasn’t that clever”, Mr Moule had a series of entry-level jobs, including working as a milkman, and as a runner at the Daily Mail on Fleet Street.

But it was during World War II that Mr Moule really began to spread his wings.

He was drafted to India to work in the transport squadron of the Royal Air Force. In the role he organised parachute drops of supplies for the troops in nearby Burma and lived in half a dozen “brilliant” Indian cities.

“I used to go and load the plane up. I used to talk to the pilot and say, can I come with you? And he’d say, yep, we want someone to chuck the stuff out.” Mr Moule remembers.

“It was quite an easy job, quite pleasant. Not a lot of danger.”

It was not long after being demobbed from the airforce that Mr Moule met his wife, Rhona, and the pair married and had three children; John, Ralph and Sue.

Mr Moule describes his wife as very outgoing: “she liked to party” and says their love worked because “we hit it off” and they also enjoyed working and travelling together.

Mr Moule jumped at the chance when his company, International Computer Limited, offered him a transfer to New Zealand. The family boarded a ship with all their worldly possessions.

But by the time they’d reached New Zealand, the position had been filled. Instead, they moved to Sydney, before another move to Tasmania some years later to service the state’s only computer.

Ted Moule who is 100 and remains active. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“I loved it [Tasmania]; from the word go,” says Mr Moule.

“Living out at Cadbury’s, you were like an enclave and everybody knew everybody. And if we wanted to go out, the kids were safe. Everybody looked after the kids.”

Later, Ted and Rhona bought two large colonial B&B’s in Battery Point, and spent 20 years running them, before retiring at the age of 80.

Hobbies is not quite the right word for Mr Moule’s interests; as he pursues them with the vigour of paid employment. A recent two week visit from family, while wonderful, meant he’s fallen behind on “fiddling with electronics and clocks – anything that needs repairing, I’ll repair it”.

A table tennis table folded up beside the dining table speaks to the ubiquity of that interest, which he played competitively until a couple of months ago when he slipped out of his computer chair and broke his hip.

While in pain now from various ailments, it’s nothing compared to the blow of losing his wife nine years ago.

“Losing her was terrible, terrible, terrible. It was hard to cope,” says Mr Moule, who said his wife died of a massive stroke while sitting in her smaller arm chair beside him.

“I’ve got used to it now, you have too. I look after myself. I cook; vacuum the floor once every six months”.

Mr Moule’s not so interested in his recent milestone of 100. Instead, he’d like to get to 200; more time to fix things, more time to “fiddle” with gadgets, as his Dad described it.

“I think the fact that I’ve lived so long has been because I’ve always been active. I’ve always been interested.” he says.

Ted Moule 93 of Hobart who was the games’ oldest competitor during the Australian Masters Games at Wynyard in 2017. PICTURE CHRIS KIDD

“Interested” encompasses the many delights of the modern world. Apple computers, women’s professional sport, regular newspaper subscriptions, a drone – Mr Moule’s into all of it, although he admits he can no longer fix computers.

“You’ve got to stay positive,” he says “You’ve got to keep going”.

Mr Moule stays in good health through regular clinic appointments and home visits throughout the week from Tasmanian Health’s Hobart Community Health Nursing team.

“Our community health nurses play an important role in supporting the health and wellbeing of the community, including clients like Ted,” Associate Nurse Unit Manager Maria Dryburgh said.

“Ted is an inspiration and someone who is incredibly active for his age. Our team is very proud to be able to help support his health and wellbeing.”

Originally published as Positive outlook and staying active is 100-year-old Ted Moule’s advice to a rich life