Chesterfield great-gran celebrates 100th birthday at a party where surprise singers The Lah-di-dahs rekindle her memories of wartime dance halls

Gladys Warrington, of Wingerworth, was surrounded by loved ones, including her daughter and son-in-law Glynnis and Douglas Keir, grandson Matthew who had flown in from Australia, and granddaughter Kirsten.

The birthday girl was entertained by vintage singers The Lah-di-dahs with jazz and swing numbers from the 40s and 50s during the celebration at the Casa Hotel, Chesterfield.

Her daughter, Glynnis, said: “Glady was excited to enjoy her memories of wartime dance halls and the camaraderie of the munitions factory in Sheffield where she helped produce shells for the very guns fired by her husband, Harry, an 8th Army ‘Desert Rat’.”

A bespoke birthday cake with a figure of Gladys surrounded by a Singer sewing machine and cooking pots celebrated the birthday girl’s skills.

Gladys, who has twin great-grandchildren living in Australia, received a bouquet, amber brooch, cushion celebrating 100 years, a Victoria plum tree and a blackberry bush as gifts.

Glynnis said: “She thought the party was ‘wonderful’ with so many surprises and couldn’t believe how beautiful the lunch table was with candles and balloons.

"If you were to ask Mum why she is doing so well at this age she would probably say it’s all down to her home-cooked meals and not believing in taking medication! She loves growing vegetables, especially tomatoes in her potting shed, her pride and joy and a recent acquisition, just one year old.

"She has a keen interest in staying active and has had a lifelong interest in DIY.

"She used to wallpaper for friends and neighbours when I was small; she has built garden walls, moulded an archway in the kitchen in her bungalow. Her 93-year-old friend Pat Navin told us a story at the party that one of her clothes line posts was shaky and Mum, in her eighties, went down with a bag of postcrete and fixed it for her.”

The eldest girl of eight children, Gladys and grew up in Sheffield during the Great Depression. Glynnis said: “She talks about her childhood regularly and how her mother baked bread, kept her door unlocked for neighbours to pop in at any time. Her father who was a miner, kept canaries and grew tomatoes in his greenhouse. His hobby was mending watches. She also remembers him ‘cobbling’ to keep their shoes well-heeled. Her mother fed a large family with good home-cooked food from very basic cheap ingredients. Mum never eats any pre-made ‘fast food’ meals; she still makes bread."

Gladys’ older brother Albert Crawford introduced his sister to Harry, whom she later married in a double wedding with Albert and his fiancee Elsie in 1943. Glynnis said: “It was wartime and Dad went off to train straight afterwards before joining the 8th Army as one of Montgomery’s men. Mum says that Harry was ginger-haired with very fair skin and he suffered very much from the heat in the desert. He lost many friends around him. He lost his sense of smell through shock and never recovered.”

Harry later worked as a steelman for Brown Bayley’s in Sheffield.

Glynnis said that her mum has had a lifelong love of clothes, often adapting her ‘bargains’ into stylish outfits. She said: “She was able to follow her love of dressmaking and secured a position for Coles (John Lewis) producing some beautiful pieces for Chatsworth House. She made valances for the beds at Chatsworth House; the hems had to be sewn by hand to be an exact distance from the carpet all the way round. Mum sat on the floor and painstakingly sewed them.

"Her skill and sense of design led her to become a sewing trainer in Derbyshire for mentally handicapped adults; she trained them, found them jobs and even took groups away for short breaks, swimming etc.”

Gladys and Harry moved to Chesterfield 30 years ago. Glynnis said: “They moved because Mum already knew the town well through her job as a sewing trainer and they found a bungalow in Wingerworth; Dad was already becoming ill with cancer and they needed an easy home to look after.”

The couple had been married for 53 years when Harry passed away in 1996.

During her teenage years Gladys had a passion for dancing and kept up the hobby well into her eighties. Glynnis said: “She danced in the hall above the current market hall (where all the little shops are); she danced with her friend June Hancock who attended the party and who is now in her eighties.”

Gladys passed on her love of dancing to Glynnis, taking her only child for her first dance lesson when she was eight. Glynnis went on to win the British Ballroom Dance Championship (juvenile competition) in the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.