THE oldest nun in Redbridge celebrated her 90th birthday and 70 years as a nun with a trip to the West End - to see Sister Act.

Sister Josephine Diviney, of Holy Family Convent in Woodford Green, was invited to the London Palladium for a showing of Sister Act the musical, about a group of nuns whose lives are transformed when they are joined by the witness to a murder.

Three of her friends from the convent on The Green went with her to see the hit show.

Sr Josephine said: “It was wonderful, every moment of it. It was the best show I’ve been to in many a year.”

Born in her “beloved Galway”, Sr Josephine moved to Liverpool in 1938. She then travelled to work as a missionary in what was Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where she stayed for more than twenty years.

“Originally I had wanted to go to Africa, but in the end they sent me to Ceylon as they felt the need was greater,” she said.

She faced a long and arduous journey through Europe and across Asia to reach the country, which acted as a base for Allied forces fighting in the Second World War against Japan.

She returned to the UK 30 years ago. Since then she has been involved in social work, and worked as a teacher in Islington.

She said: “I thought that perhaps at that age my learning days were over,” she said, referring to her work as a teacher in Islington.

After seeing the matinee performance of the show, based on the hit 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sr Josephine had to the chance to meet actor Patina Miller, who plays Sister Deloris VanCartier, and Sheila Hancock, who plays the Mother Superior.

Sr Josephine now plans to write to the producers to thank them for her trip.

She added: “The show was a credit to the cast.”