Careful batting took George Peterkin to his century last year. Now he needs just a gentle flick off his pads to get to 101, and the man from Chatham, St James, does not intend to play a rash shot.

No alcohol, no smoking, no partying and no young girls for the sharp-witted centenarian who says he suffers from only, “a little cataract (clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision) and some diabetes (high blood glucose or blood sugar levels), drinks Malta regularly, and eats everything.

“Is God’s grace keeping me alive, and I don’t worry about anything. Mi use to go St Matthew’s Church in Allman Town which is where me married and became a member,” Peterkin told the Jamaica Observer last Thursday.

These days Peterkin spends his time in his house in Vineyard Town, St Andrew, with his radio tuned to RJR, which he says is his daily companion.

Born in Chatham on August 3, 1918, Peterkin had clear memories of growing up in the quiet rural community.

“I went to the Goodwill School in Trelawny and after me leave school me deh bout the yard and up and down with me mother. Anywhere she go she carry mi, so mi know places more than the eight others. Three bigger ones then me and me know places more than them,” said Peterkin who has outlived all his brothers and sisters.

“Me was the darker one so me was like a robot. Mi had to do everything up and down with her. Every weekend me and mi mother up and down at market — Wakefield Market, Falmouth Market and everywhere she go. But mi grow up quite contended with everybody. Mi mother and father and all of us was there,” added Peterkin.

He said that after school his mother sent him to a family member to “learn trade” — carpentry, which became his profession and took him from Chatham to Kingston.

“A gentleman saw me doing the carpentry work and him take me from the man who teach me trade and carry mi into town. Twenty-nine Arnold Road was the first place him take me. Afterwards, me come back into town by myself,” said Peterkin.

That was when he would find the woman who became his wife and life partner, Dorris Ross. But before he got married Peterkin played the field.

“I had a lot of friends, girls, and I grew up with all of them before me married,” Peterkin said with a chuckle, his eyes bright and shining.

“After me married me decide say me going to England in 1954 and that was when mi name change to George. Mi go school as Lorenzo Peterkin but when mi go Spanish Town for mi birth certificate mi write down everything including mi mother and father name, and them say them can’t see no Lorenzo, only George, so me have to travel as George Jr because my father was also George.”

The then 46-year-old, who had just buried his mother, packed his bags, boarded the train in Kingston, and travelled to Montego Bay, St James where he boarded a plane to London.

“The plane came down from England with the queen and land in Montego Bay. She had a yacht here waiting on her so it was going back up empty because it wasn’t a passenger plane, so who had the fare to go to England could travel with it. Those times it was £90 and a couple of us went,” said George, who scoffed at claims that it meant he was rich to find what was a princely sum at the time.

“No sah mi never rich, but me was working and mi had me savings,” declared Peterkin with another of his trademark chuckles.

He said he arrived in England on the Sunday and by the next morning the person who received him found him a job at a hospital.

“Me work there until them send me off, and then me get another job and everybody enjoyed my company. Me enjoyed the cold of London even though me had to wear a lot of clothes to keep warm,” said Peterkin, who was joined by his wife and two sons two years later.

But his wife never really adapted and decided that she wanted to return to Jamaica.

“I didn’t want to come back but she wanted to come back so she force the issue and by December 1966 we came back home. Me carry a car down with me and me just drive around. At that time we were living in Jones Town and me run up and down until me find this place, and we live here. But me don’t do no more work when me come back,” shared Peterkin.

He was to return to a Jamaica that had changed dramatically in the years that he had been away. It was now an independent nation, the pound was soon to be replaced by the dollar, and two major political parties — the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party — held sway.

“Jamaica did change up but me cope with it. Me never bother get involved in the politics. Me vote yes, and when me vote a Labour me vote and even now me still vote — fi Labour,” Peterkin declared with another chuckle.

But those changes pale in comparison to those he has seen over recent years, including the level of violence.

“When mi was growing up Jamaica was Jamaica. In the pound days everybody was happy with their little shilling, pence, farthing. You could buy something with your little farthing and everybody was quite happy.

“People no love people again like first time. People no enjoy themselves like first time,” added Peterkin who has fond memories of taking the tramcar from Jones Town to Papine to party without fear.

He has since lost his wife and one of his sons, which devastated him, but enjoys his contact with his other son who lives in England, his four grandchildren, and several family members who ensure that they take time to check up on the family’s patriarch.