Milestone 100th birthday celebrations for Dorothy
A Wombourne resident celebrated reaching her 100th birthday this month.
Dorothy Roche has been living in Maywood, a ShireLiving Extra Care Scheme operated by the Wrekin Housing Group, since February 2020.
Growing up in Cheshire, her fathers’ job as a racehorse trainer meant she moved around a lot in her early years. The family then moved to Shropshire before settling in Wombourne when Dorothy was 11.
Dorothy spent her early life working in various roles, including as a Nanny before World War Two began.
She said: “When the war came I had to go do war work. I worked on the machine but I don’t know how I did it. It was a spinning wheel and I had this little thing between my fingers and I had to polish it. I think it was a bullet or something to do with guns anyway. My poor fingers were never the same.”
Soon after the War, in 1946, Dorothy got married to John and together they had 3 children, 7 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. They were married for 40 years before John passed away on Christmas Day. John was a railway worker who moved from Southern Ireland to volunteer during the War. Once he met Dorothy he never wanted to go back.
Asked what her secret to a long life is, Dorothy credits good wholesome food, a glass of sherry and exercise.
She said: “After my husband died I was a bit lost and a friend started me off in a rambling club. We had some lovely times up in the Lake District and around. I loved it. Of course, we always walked when we were young, we walked three miles to school. I wore my knees out! We did long weekends. It was good exercise, just get a group together and walk. You don’t have to rush. The longest walk we did was 10 miles.”
Dorothy, who has seen the coronation of three Kings and one Queen, received a card from King Charles for her birthday and celebrated with a party at Maywood.
Dorothy added: “It was lovely what he said on the card. I’m going to have it framed. We had a party here at with entertainment it was quite fun really. On Saturday we had a barbeque at my daughters, that was very nice. The children really enjoyed it, they could run around and have some fun.”
Stephanie Warmer, Service Manager at Maywood said: “All our team would like to wish Dorothy a very happy 100th birthday. We were so pleased to be able to celebrate this milestone occasion with her. I’d like to thank all the staff at Maywood for helping to make this happen.”
Maywood is a ShireLiving retirement complex in Wombourne, run by The Wrekin Housing Group. The complex is purpose built for people over the age of 55 with a host of facilities and onsite support designed to enhance independence. To find out more about life at Wrekin’s ShireLiving scheme – visit www.shireliving.co.uk
6th July 2023