Thelma was born in St Andrew, Barbados, in 1932.
She had five brothers and two sisters. Her mum died in childbirth when she was just 8. Back then, people didn't know much about contraception, and Thelma thinks that giving birth to all those babies eventually became too much for her mother.
Thelma was a bright girl and did well at school. Once she got her shorthand and typewriting certificates, she did secretarial work within the Civil Service in Barbados, but the posts were only temporary.
She'd always been told that the streets of England were 'paved with gold' and that 'The motherland' was a place of opportunity. So when she heard that the UK Government was recruiting people to work on the buses, she decided to join instead of waiting for a permanent post in Barbados.
So in 1956, at 23, Thelma got the ship from Bridgetown to Southampton (11 days) and then took a coach to London.
Thelma was disappointed when she first arrived in the UK. It was cold, and the place where she had to stay was awful.
She remembers seeing the signs in the windows, "No blacks, no Irish, no dogs." Some people, even those in the church that she attended, were rude because of the colour of her skin. It certainly wasn't the warm welcome she was told she would get.
She got a job immediately as a conductor on the bus.
Running up and down the stairs with the ticket machine strapped to her was hard work. The bag she wore to carry all the coins became heavy as the day progressed, and she was exhausted by the end of her shift.
Sometimes, passengers would drop their coins on the floor when paying their fare rather than risk touching a black person's hand. Thelma's stint on the buses was short-lived because she then got secretarial work for the government at Millbank in Westminster.
She enjoyed being a civil servant because once in the organisation, you could move around and work in many different departments, so the job was always fascinating. Thelma went on to spend nearly 30 years working for the Service. She took voluntary redundancy during the recession of the late 80s. She did temp work until she got her pension when she was 60.
Despite many obstacles, Thelma has done well in England. She bought her house, raised her kids, and is also a grandmother. Her husband passed away 17 years ago. She still misses him, but in Thelma's words, 'What can you do?'
Thelma says it's not easy being 91 in modern Britain. Everything is online nowadays, and many shops have stopped taking cash. The high street banks are all closing their branches, which is a real problem for older people. Those bank adverts on TV saying, "We are by your side," always make Thelma laugh.
