25 March 2023
Tamworth resident, Margaret Loftus, celebrated her 100th birthday this week and has been busy celebrating the occasion with family and residents at her retirement development.
Margaret has been living at FirstPort’s independent-living retirement development Penny Court in Tamworth since 2007. She explained:
“I have had a marvellous time celebrating with my family and residents of Penny Court who have worked so hard to give me a super birthday, including organising the catering themselves.”
While her 100th birthday will be a memorable one, Margaret said her best birthday memory was the birth of her daughter.
She added:
“The best birthday present I have had in my 100 years has been the birth of my daughter in 1946 during the week of my birthday.
“The nurse brought me a pile of cards and said that ‘one would think it is your birthday’ and I explained that it was!”
Margaret said her top advice in life is to “always have a sense of humour”, adding that there is no real secret to reaching 100-years-old.
She said:
I think it’s best to accept life as it is, as I think life is already planned from when we are born.
“I don’t think there’s a secret to reaching 100 – it is just pure luck and the Good Lord watching over me.”
It’s not just her birthdays that have been particularly memorable over the years, one of Margaret’s best memories is her “hilarious” wedding day to her husband John in 1944.
She explained:
“John was fifteen minutes late, it being wartime, anything could happen, and it did.
“It was hilarious – the wedding car for John and Tom, the best man, went to the wrong address so they both had to run for the bus to take them into Birmingham from the suburbs to the register office.
“They arrived, hot and bothered, at 11.15. It closed at 12.00pm! Just made it. A good start.”
Margaret’s daughter Barbara Hemmings said:
I feel blessed to still have my mother with me when I am in my late seventies.
“I hope her birthday will be a very happy occasion.”
Tracey Shiels, FirstPort Development Manager at Penny Court, added: “What an amazing achievement it is to reach 100. We are all thrilled to be celebrating this momentous occasion with Margaret and her family.”
