A SPRIGHTLY great-grandmother celebrated her milestone birthday with family, friends and her favourite tipple - Brandy and Babycham.
Doris May Ellis (maiden name - Cope), a resident at The Nash Residential Home in Rhyl, marked her 100th birthday on Tuesday, June 6.
Staff said Doris, who has children Graham, Christine and Stephen, had planned an outfit to wear for her special day.
Graham said his mum could not "quite believe" she was turning 100-years-old.
He said: "She loved having her family and friends attend her party. She said she'd had a really great afternoon and was very complimentary about the efforts made by Margaret Spencer [manager at the care home] and her staff to make her day special."
Doris was born on June 6, 1923, in Wood Green, North London. She was the only child of Reginald and Gertrude Cope.
At the outbreak of WW2, Gertrude, now a widow, moved with Doris to Rhyl where Gertrude’s sister ran a B&B on West Parade. After living there for a short time, Gertrude and Doris moved into rooms at a house in Garnett Avenue owned by Mrs Vaughan. Doris found employment as a sales assistant at E B Jones and also as a waitress in the café next door in the High Street where she met her future husband, George Edward Ellis.
Doris worked as a riveter making fighter/bomber wings at a factory in Llandudno Junction, which in later years became Hotpoint.
Doris and George married in early December 1944 and went to live with Gertrude, now herself remarried, at “Kinver” off Trellewelyn Road.
Graham said: "My mother and father moved into a council house in Elwy Drive in 1949. Mum had two children there – Christine and Stephen. I was the older sibling.
"During the following years, mum raised us and we eventually attended Rhyl Grammar / Rhyl High School. My mother had several part time jobs, including a dining room attendant at Emmanuel County Primary School and sales assistant in a local shop."
After George’s death in 1983, Doris started volunteering at Rhyl RNLI, serving in the souvenir shop, for about 20 years.
She also enrolled in a Sociology Course at an educational centre in Cefndy Road.
Graham said: "Despite suffering ill health during this time, my mother fully recovered and continued to live in Elwy Drive. Eventually in her late 90’s, she moved into The Nash Nursing Home and remains there to date."
Doris has six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
They have been "her life" since becoming a widow.
Graham said: "She is also an avid royalist and she loved watching the England Cricket team playing Test Matches on television and is a life-long Tottenham Hotspur fan, having watched them play at White Hart Lane with her father in the late 1920’s.
"She is the subject and focus of much admiration and pride within the family."
RELATED STORIES
- Families with pushchairs among those cut off by tide in Rhyl
- Rare photos as Welsh Mountain Zoo marks 60th anniversary
Margaret said: "Doris love to sing and to sit with her cat teddy. She regulary sings in the morning 'pussycat, I love you'. She has an unmatched sweet tooth, enjoys a Babycham and brandy on special occassions. She likes her make-up and pearls and she always wears a smile.
"The staff her at Nash think the world of Doris. She always puts a smile on our faces.
"She had an amazing time."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here