Care home's plea for the community to help celebrate as Derbyshire woman turns 102

Anne Grimwood-Taylor will reach the milestone on Friday, June 30, and for the good of her health it will be a relatively peaceful celebration, but those caring for her at Valley Lodge nursing home, in Matlock, are hoping for a flutter of envelopes dropping into the mailbox.

Activities coordinator Sarah Simmonite said: “Anne is a very much loved part of the Valley Lodge family and we intend to make her day very special with plenty of cups of tea, chocolate and strawberries and cream. At the grand age of 102 she has definitely earned that time to sit back and relax, and all of us here wish her a very happy birthday.

“We are hoping that Anne will receive many cards from the general public and local schools. She already has some wonderful cards waiting to open on her big day from Matlock Pre-school, St Joseph’s Catholic Academy and Castle View Primary School, and we would like to say a big thank you to them.”

The occasion may be an opportunity for the community to repay the kindness Anne showed over many years as a volunteer in the Matlock office of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service, organising ‘meals on wheels’ for people in need across rural Derbyshire.

In the 74 years she has lived in the county, she also raised two children, Paul and James, followed by grandchildren Elizabeth, Rose, Thomas and Charlotte.

Growing up with dreams of the stage and screen, Anne was studying at drama college when the Second World War broke out in 1939, at which point she enlisted as an officer in the Royal Corps of Signals, stationed at communications posts around the country including the War Office in London, where she met her husband-to-be Richard Grimwood-Taylor.

After the war, Anne spent time working for John Lewis in London and Liverpool, before marrying Richard in 1949 and settling initially in the Derby area, where he would become a prominent solicitor and she tended the home and garden.

Sarah said: “To say that she has ‘green fingers’ would be an understatement. She still loves talking about the flowers that she grew and gardens she’s had throughout her life now.

“She also always loved going to the theatre and had a particular fondness for Shakespeare. She likes classical music and mainly spends her days in her room relaxing with the radio on.”

Family members will be visiting Valley Lodge on Friday with a few more of Anne’s favourite things.

Son James said: “We’ll be eating a bit of cake and hopefully having a thimble-full of Champagne – they were her requests to us a while back, as her usual birthday treats.

“She is a wonderful mother and grandmother – gentle and caring, but determined when necessary. She is not at all keen on being elderly, and thinks it’s mostly a matter of luck and genes – but she was amazed to reach 100, and to get the congratulations card from the Queen in 2021.”

Anyone who would like to send their own birthday greeting to Anne can do so via Valley Lodge Care Home, Bakewell Road, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3BN.