The girls mark milestones

Two of the oldest residents at a care home are celebrating milestone birthdays this month.
Two residents at Valley Lodge Care Home in Matlock are celebrating milestone birthdays. Rita Conway and Ivy Turberville.Two residents at Valley Lodge Care Home in Matlock are celebrating milestone birthdays. Rita Conway and Ivy Turberville.
Two residents at Valley Lodge Care Home in Matlock are celebrating milestone birthdays. Rita Conway and Ivy Turberville.

Rita Conway turned 101 today (Thursday, April 10) while Ivy Turberville turns 102 on April 26. Both of them live in Valley Lodge Care Home, in Matlock.

Ivy Turberville, who celebrated 80 years of marriage with her husband Monty last year, is a lifelong Derbyshire resident from Holloway.

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During the World War Two she worked at Johnson’s Mill packing before embarking on a joint venture with her husband after the war, running their own farm.

She married her husband, Wilfred ‘Monty’ Turberville – who also lives at the home – at Holloway church in 1933 when she was 21.

The couple have never had any children.

Rita Conway has two children, five grandchildren and five great–grandchildren, and moved to Matlock four years ago.

Before retiring she was a housewife who helped her husband run his own business as a credit drapery.

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She has travelled all around Europe and particularly enjoyed dancing.

Her daughter Hilary Backhouse, 69, said her mum has lived a ‘spirited life’.

Rita’s husband, Joseph Conway, died aged 54 in 1965 – more than 20 years after they married.

Hilary added: “My parents were quite the socialites when they were younger, my mum liked to dance, she would certainly still dance if she had the chance.

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“She is still walking on her own steam and has still got her sense of humour, to be honest she is good for her age.”

Rita also has a son, Alan Ben–ami, who lives in Israel.

Hilary said he often speaks to his mother at the home through Skype.

She added: “I think it’s an achievement for my mum to have reached this age. She has been lying to us about it for 20 years – we only found out last year that she was 100!”

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