Gertrude scores a century... but her old friend Michael got there first
Last updated 05:39, Friday, 08 August 2008
Gertrude Parr was pipped at the post on her 100th birthday – her friend Michael Hegarty had got there first.
But there was no chance of anyone upstaging Gertrude Parr as she celebrated her big day with an orange juice at the weekend.
She was just delighted that Michael Hegarty – who was 101 on Tuesday – was there to share the special occasion at Carlisle’s Stoneyholme golf club.
Gertrude, who has no surviving family, said: “He’s a real pal. We met at the Harraby Luncheon Club and we’ll be together again for his party.”
Gertrude was brought up in Harold Street, Currock, Carlisle, and now lives by herself in a special flat just a stone’s throw away.
She went to Bishop Goodwin School, which was then sited at Five Road Ends where the Co-op store now stands, before joining the textile trade.
She later became a school cook in Windermere and puts her long life down to “hard work and clean living”.
She said: “I’ve never smoked and I don’t drink now. I’ll have an orange juice today but everyone else can have what they want.”
Gertrude, who lost her husband and son in quick succession, has suffered heart problems in the past and has to use a nebuliser now to assist with her breathing.
But she has no intentions of slowing down just yet – it was off to the luncheon club on Monday, then Michael’s celebration and then a country and western evening in Windermere next week.
Have you seen...
Have your say
- So children are animals? What does that say about adults?
- Government ready to fund stalled Carlisle bypass and Penrith New Squares schemes
- Penrith rugby club’s future threatened by rise in rates and bills
- Who are happy hour drinks promotions happy for?
- McDonald's to create jobs as Cumbrians look for cheap meals out
- Recipe to beat the credit crunch – look to nature’s larder
- 565 jobs at risk if new Carlisle Airport plans are rejected
- Beacon Hill and Solway may be merged as part of secondary school shake-up
- MP Eric Martlew urges buy-up of cheap Carlisle properties
- Mum pulls 'bullied' daughter out of Carlisle's central academy
