Call to send Wigan care home resident as many 100th birthday cards as possible

Belong care village in Platt Bridge has put out the appeal in the build-up to the special milestone on July 28.

Lily was born in 1922, brought up in Huyton and has seen the world change aplenty over the years including living through the Second World War.

She worked as housemaid after leaving school at 14 before going on to work at BICC in Prescot where she met her future husband Bill.

They married in 1945 and their son Barry arrived in 1947. The couple were happily married for 69 years until Bill sadly passed away in 2014 aged 96.

The couple had lived in Bryn since 1981 after moving from Rainhill to be closer to their two grandchildren, Angela and Steven. She has since become a great-grandmother of four.

Lily remained in her bungalow following Bill’s passing with both neighbours and family giving her a helping hand, eventually every day life became too difficult and the decision to move into a residential home was made.

Living at Belong Wigan since 2020, Lily says she is happy and well looked, and when asked about the upcoming birthday she said: “Gosh, I hadn’t realised – I thought I was just a little over 21!

"I’m looking forward to the spending the day with friends and family, God bless them all.”

To celebrate the milestone, staff at Belong are planning an afternoon tea to celebrate and are asking the people of Wigan to send as many cards as possible to make the day special for Lily.

Charlene Frodsham, experience coordinator at Belong Wigan, also said: “We wanted to do something extra special for Lily’s birthday, after all, how many people turn 100?

"It’s an amazing achievement to live this long, so we thought we’d do a shout out so the community can join the celebrations.” she added.

Details for where to send birthday cards ahead of Lily’s birthday have been provided by Belong’s facebook page here