On 25 January 1906, when Evelyn Gauci was born in Senglea, the talk in the Maltese newspapers was of a concert given by the La Vallette Society.

No one had heard of a 40-year-old bank in Hong Kong called the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Limited. One hundred years later, the paths of Ms Gauci and HSBC crossed with the latter presenting a special birthday gift to the centenarian.

“One hundred years ago, no one dreamed of a world of ATMs, internet banking and EPOS machines. Yet, here we are today with Evelyn living right next door to our branch in Paola and a valued customer of HSBC. Reaching the age of 100 is fantastic and presenting a gift was the least we could do on this special occasion,” said area director of HSBC Southern Area, Francis X. Gouder.

Mr Gouder visited Mrs Gauci together with HSBC Paola branch manager, Paul Caligari and employee Denise Caruana, who is also Mrs Gauci’s grand-daughter.