Phyllis celebrates turning 100

Phyllis Bovingdon's sense of humour shone through her on special party.

She spent it with her son, Bernard, and 40 friends and relatives at his home near Oxford.

She also enjoyed a surprise party closer to her home in Oakland Court, Nyetimber Lane, when the housing scheme's part-time warden hosted a gathering for Mrs Bovingdon's neighbours last Thursday.

Mrs Bovingdon, who also has six children and six grandchildren, said: "I feel privileged to be 100 but there's nothing clever about it on my part.

"I've always had a keen sense of humour and there's plenty of laughs when I get together with my friends and relatives.

"Life throws all sorts of horrible things at you and you have to face up to them and move on."

Those episodes have included the death of her two daughters from cancer '“ Jean passed away at the age of 63 and Barbara died three years at 74.

"It's cruel when you lose your children. It really is," she stated.

Mrs Bovingdon was born in Ealing, west London, on August 30, 1908. She was the eldest of seven children whose father was a journeyman baker. He rode a horse-drawn cart around selling loaves and Mrs Bovingdon used to join him.

"I can still remember the smell of horse manure and fresh bread," she recalled.

The family moved to Redhill and Newbury and Mrs Bovingdon clearly remembers her first day at school and learning the English and German national anthems ready for a visit by the Kaiser.

She worked in the storeroom of a Christmas cracker factory when she left school. She did various jobs in the Second World War to help the war effort.

By then, she had married George. Their marriage lasted for 53 years until he died in 1981.

Mrs Bovingdon moved to a bungalow in Elmer for about five years before she settled down in Oakland Court.

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